Care Bears III: The Search for Timid Heart
by M.W. Roach
Summary: When Professor Cold Heart, No Heart and Dark Heart team up to defeat the Care Bear Family, it's going to take one very special cousin to find the courage within to save them all.
1. Prologue

**Care Bears III: The Search for Timid Heart**  
 **Prologue**  
 **-**

The castle stood stark against the billowing black storm clouds; the crashing thunder deafening. Lightning flashed, illuminating the threatening towers and all at once disappearing, showering the kingdom in blackness once again. Shadows moaned and sighed hauntingly inside the castle, drifting listlessly. At the furthest corner of the room, a cloaked figure stood, hands behind his back. He watched the storm defiantly, his eyes fiercely aglow. Occasionally, he would gaze impatiently at the palace entrance, as though he were expecting someone.

In fact, No Heart was indeed expecting someone. And they were late. He growled impatiently as he turned his attention back to the storm. Ah, the storm. There was something about the raw power of the storm that the dark sorcerer found cathartic. Relaxing. Beautiful. But today, he could hardly focus on the rolling black clouds, or the chaotic war between the thunder and lightning. Instead, the storm was merely a distraction. Something to keep his attention while he waited.

Finally, the waiting paid off. The massive door of the castle flew open with a loud bang, followed by an even louder, "UNCLE NOOOO HEEAARRRTTT, WE'RE BAAACK!"

No Heart turned and started toward his niece quickly. "Excellent, Shreeky! I trust you found it?"

"We sure did, No Heart!" Beastly shouted excitedly as he bounced into the castle, kicking the door closed behind him. He held up a large, rectangular object that was covered in a dusty cloth. "We found it at the bottom of an old well!"

Shreeky snatched the object from Beastly's hands.

"I'm the one who knew where to look! I'M the one who learned how to feel for its presence. I FOUND IT!" She finished with her trademark shriek.

Shreeky had indeed over the years learned some very powerful techniques from her uncle, and the 12 year old was turning into quite the little sorceress herself. She held the object out to No Heart, who eagerly took it in his hands.

"Well..." Beastly groaned. "...I'm the one who had to dive in the well after it."

No Heart ignored him. He kept his eyes locked on the shrouded item, sighing contently.

"After all these years...we're finally reunited." He removed the dusty cloth the reveal a large black book.

The cover was hard and rough to the touch, as though it were made from the skin of a reptile. It bore strange text, as well as a secure lock.

"How are you gonna open it, Uncle No Heart? There wasn't a key. And I tried to talk to it, but it wouldn't answer. It's very rude if you ask me!" Shreeky ended with a grunt, folding her arms angrily against her chest.

"She must have destroyed it." He answered, caressing the spine of the book.

Beastly and Shreeky exchanged confused glances. "She?" They wondered together.

"No matter." No Heart shrugged. "I'll just..."

He stopped suddenly, his eyes narrowing to focus on the edges of the book. Ice crystals were forming.

"What's this?" No Heart growled, watching intently as ice crystals and frost began to lightly form all over the castle. The majority of it was creeping in from the entrance-way. In moments, the door was covered in icicles and frost.

"OH!" Shreeky suddenly yelped. "I almost forgot! Don't start anything yet, Uncle No Heart! Wait 'til we're all here first."

No Heart scowled. "What are you talking about? Wait until who's all here?"

Shreeky gave a smug grin. "Well, this is supposed to be a special occasion, so...I invited grandpa."

"YOU WHAT?!" No Heart roared.

The door burst open, bringing in an icy wind and a blast of snow that almost blew the book from No Heart's clutches. Standing in the doorway, an ancient, withered figure stood; his scarf floating gently in the freezing breeze. A spooky grin creased the corner of the old man's mouth.

"Is it me? Or is it a little ca-ca-ca-ca-cold in here?" He cackled wickedly.

"Oh, boy!" Beastly cheered. "It's Professor Cold Heart!"

"Grandpa!" Shreeky squealed in delight as she ran over to affectionately greet the old villain.

No Heart stood shaking with anger, the book tucked carelessly under his arm.

"Look, No Heart! It's your dad!" Beastly stupidly continued, despite No Heart's unforgiving glaring. "Gosh, it's been a while since you two have spoken huh? Must've been at least 10 years! Isn't this a fun surprise, No Heart? Isn't fun to see your estranged father after almost 10 yea..."

Beastly's sentence went unfinished as No Heart's fist collided with the creature's head, knocking him to the ground in a daze.

Cold Heart finally met No Heart's gaze. The old man grinned.

"Speechless with joy, I see." Cold Heart teased.

No Heart growled. "Why are you here?" He managed to say through gritted teeth.

"My grand daughter invited me, of course. She said you plan on getting absolute revenge on those furry little vermin. Thought I might want in on it." He leaned over Shreeky and playfully squeezed her cheeks. "Wasn't that thoughtful?" He joked smugly in baby-talk.

Another moment of glaring, and No Heart gave a defeated sigh. "Let's just get this over with..."

He took the book in his hands again, but before he could do anything, Cold Heart raised his finger to the sky.

"WAIT." He shouted, almost making No Heart drop the book. "Where's the boy?"

"Yeah, uncle No Heart!" Shreeky interrupted. "Where's my cousin? You know he should be in on this too." She hugged Cold Heart tighter. "This should be a family activity, right grandpa?"

"The girl is right, No Heart." Cold Heart said sternly. "Go fetch my grandson, then we can start."

No Heart stood, glaring at both of them for a few moments before finally setting the book down on a table. "Fine." He snarled. He begrudgingly walked to another end of the room, opened secret door and disappeared down a flight of stairs.

* * *

The stairway twisted down into the blackness, letting out in front of a dark, heavy, locked door. No Heart hesitated for a moment before whipping the door open with a wave of his hand. The room, much like everything else in the castle, was dark and filled with the eerie cries of No Heart's shadows. Only a small corner of the room glowed a dim but angry red. The glow flickered warmly, as though it were alive. Indeed, it was.

No Heart approached the glow, which was coming from a corked bottle. He stopped at the shelf where the glowing bottle sat, and stared at it angrily. "Such a disappointment." He grumbled, shaking his head.

He leaned forward, the glow of the bottle offering faint glimpses of No Heart's constantly shadowed face. "Wake up." He whispered. Nothing happened. No Heart lightly tapped the bottle with the back of his hand. "I said wake up." He commanded, a bit louder this time.

Still, nothing. With a weary eye roll, No Heart grabbed the neck of the bottle, yanked it off the shelf and proceeded to violently shake it up and down.

"WAKE UP YOU MISERABLE FREE LOADER!" He roared, slamming the bottle down on the shelf with such force, all the other items of the shelf were jostled to the floor.

There was a distant cry coming from within the bottle, followed by a thundering noise. The flickering glow suddenly seemed to take on a smokey shape, filling the bottle with a deep red essence. Then, two glowing slits appeared on the red cloud, slanted and angry looking.

 ** _"What is it?!"_** A deep and angry adolescent male voice questioned. **_"What do you want? Leave me be!"_**

"Watch how you talk to me, Dark Heart." No Heart warned. "Or the next body I put you in will be that of a tiny tree frog!"

 ** _"Great!_** " Dark Heart exclaimed sarcastically. **_"Then I can hop out of here and away from YOU."_**

"Well, part of your wish is coming true." No Heart groaned, grabbing the bottle and exiting the room. "We are in fact leaving."

 ** _"Where are we going?"_** Dark Heart asked suspiciously.

"We are going...to get revenge on those disgusting little Care Bears." No Heart hissed vehemently.

 ** _"The Bears?"_** Dark Heart thought to himself quietly for a moment. **_"Wait, you STILL haven't defeated them?"_**

"Shut up." No Heart mumbled.

 ** _"Oh my gosh! How long have I been grounded? And they're still out there doing their whole "caring" thing? HA!"_** Dark Heart's taunting devolved into laughter.

"I said SHUT UP!" No Heart went back to violently shaking the bottle and continued to do so the entire trip back up the stairs, leaving behind a trail of Dark Heart's cries of discomfort to linger in the dark.

* * *

Back in the room, everyone sat around the table while No Heart ran his hands over the cover of the book. Dark Heart's slanted glowing eyes floated in his smokey essence in a scowling shape. Cold Heart, Shreeky and Beastly watched No Heart intently. He gazed at his audience and began to fondle the amulet around his neck.

"I got this amulet; and most of my power; right here." He placed his hand on the book. "Gifts given to me...by the Spirit. Given, in exchange, for a face." He clasped the amulet in his hand and pulled it free of his neck. "Power for power. And now, I give some back. Awaken, Spirit." He placed the amulet against the lock. "Awaken and share with us your power, and your insight."

The crowd, minus Dark Heart, gasped in awe as the amulet began to glow. Then the book began to glow. Then, suddenly, a cackling laughter. Distant at first, but it grew in volume until it overshadowed even the mighty thunder. Even Shreeky had to cover her ears.

Suddenly, there came a massive blast of air from the book as it shot open. No Heart pulled away, covering his eyes from the blinding light that emanated from within the pages. Shreeky and Beastly also covered their eyes, but mostly in fear. Cold Heart narrowed his eyes but did not remove his gaze.

 ** _"Oh, hey, don't anybody shield me or anything. I enjoy having the headlight of a TRAIN shining directly in my eyes."_** Dark Heart complained. But his voice fell on deaf ears, as everyone now stared, unbelieving, at the golden face of a woman within the books' pages.

The handsome but feminine face smiled proudly as she focused exclusively on No Heart.

 _"Ahh...It feels so good to be back!"_ She exclaimed in a breathy but intimidating voice. _"Hello, No Heart."_ She said almost seductively. _"It's been many years."_

"I am humbled to be in your presence once again, Spirit." No Heart bowed. "We have searched for you for a long time."

 _"We?"_ The Spirit looked at the other faces around her. _"Ah, yes. So many faces. So many stories. Yet we all have one thing in common."_ She looked at Cold Heart. _"You there, old man. You've traveled very far to be here. You come from a dark, gray land. A Land Without Feelings."_

"Well it WAS a Land Without Feelings!" Cold Heart snapped. "Before those cuddly little Care Bears came along and made everything bright and happy again! Ooh, I hate those blasted bears with all their caring! Bah!"

 _"Yes."_ The Spirit answered with her soothing voice. _"They rescued all your little children slaves and brought love and happiness back into your land. Now you have nowhere to call home."_ She looked at Shreeky and Beastly. _"And you two...your experiences with those little bears are just as sad. Many close calls, but no victories. How embarrassing...for your uncle."_

Shreeky slammed her fists on the table with a shriek of rage while Beastly looked away in shame.

 _"And you..."_ The Spirit looked over at Dark Heart, whose slitty gaze remained unimpressed. _"You were the closest to defeating them. You had the power even to withstand their Stare. You almost had them. You ALMOST HAD THEM."_ She shouted at the end, her golden face turning green. _"And then you let the heart of the human boy whose body you possessed get the better of you. You let the human heart care, and win. And so, your essence was driven out of the human's body, and here you are. A pathetic and bitter little entity trapped in a bottle. Your failure was the most embarrassing of all...because you should NOT have lost."_

Dark Heart narrowed his eyes even more. **_"Ooh, good point. Now let's hear the story about how YOU defeated them. You did defeat them, right? Being so powerful and all-knowing, it must've been a piece of cake for someone as competent as you: a disembodied face in a book written in...what is that, Scandinavian? Yeah, you're really threatening, lady."_**

No Heart slammed his hand on the table and leaned over the book, eyeing Dark Heart.

"I promise, I am this close..." He gestured with his index finger and thumb. "...to throwing you out that window."

 _"There, there, No Heart."_ The Spirit soothed him. _"No need to display your temper. The boy is right, after all. I was defeated. And it was humiliating. And that is why we have all come together. Don't you see? It was meant to be this way. It will make our victory all the sweeter. Separate, we were defeated. But together...together, we will have our revenge."_

"Ooh, what're we gonna do to them, Miss Spirit? Are we gonna shave off all their hair and make them live in the North Pole?" Shreeky inquired excitedly.

"Ooh, ooh! Or maybe, we'll kick them out of their pretty little home in Care-A-Lot so that WE can slide on rainbows and sleep in big fluffy clouds, and..." Beastly stopped talking when he felt all the eyes of rage on him. "Umm...nevermind."

 _"The only thing we are going to do to them..."_ The Spirit said confidently. _"Is accept their unconditional surrender."_ The Spirit ended her speech with a crazy cackle.

Excluding Dark Heart, the other villains exchanged arrogant smirks, confidence high with the knowledge that the Care Bears were going to finally meet their end.


	2. Chapter 1

Care Bears III: The Search for Timid Heart

Chapter 1  
 _  
_

* * *

 _...Meanwhile, in Care-A-Lot..._

Thick clouds rose and fell in billowy mounds, effortlessly floating high above Earth. Dense islands of them weightlessly hovered over one another, creating graceful dancing shadows. The mid day sun lit the peaks in a glorious golden hue. Just beyond the horizon of the rolling heavens lay the beautiful land of Care-A-Lot, decorated with vibrant rainbow roads and bridges linking together a network of charming buildings; among them, a statuesque palace known as the Hall of Hearts.

Within the palace, the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins were gathered together for a very special celebration: the official graduation of Hugs Bear and Tugs Bear. No longer little cubs in diapers, but full fledged adults.

The whole Care Bear family stood in the center of the palace, facing the upper-level. On the upper-level stood the new graduates, Hugs and Tugs. Behind them, a table with an object sitting on it, covered with a sheet. With them were the founders of the diverse family; Noble Heart Horse and True Heart Bear.

The first row of the audience consisted of Tender Heart Bear, Grumpy Bear and, between them, Grams Bear. Older, with more gray hairs, and quietly wiping away tears of pride. Groups of Star and Heart Buddies hovered and darted around eagerly.

Noble Heart's deep voice kept everyone's attention.

"...And so, it is with deep pleasure that we award Hugs Bear and Tugs Bear with their assigned missions, and their diplomas, officially making them working members of the Care Bear family!"

The crowd cheered wildly as Hugs and Tugs accepted their diplomas and tightly hugged their care takers. Tears of joy were shed by all, particularly Grams and True Heart. Quickly regaining her composure, True Heart cleared her throat, commanding the crowd's attention.

"In addition to this most important ceremony, our very own Hugs and Tugs would like to introduce a project they've been working on. What have you got to share with us today, you two?"

Hugs and Tugs exchanged proud glances before stepping up to their peers.

"First off, we want to thank you all for everything!" Tugs started.

"That's right." Hugs chimed in. "We wouldn't be celebrating here today without all of you!"

The crowd cheered again; many a "we love you" could be heard among the applause.

Tugs continued. "That's why we're very excited to show you what we've been working on! We hope it will be a great tool for the future of helping people. Hugs?"

"Ready, Tugs!" She called to him excitedly, paws gripping the sheet. She yanked the sheet off the table, revealing a red and gold medium sized box-shaped object that looked like a computer of sorts. Next to it were a cluster of small, rainbow-colored flat devices, and what appeared to be a rolled up map.

Tugs turned a knob on the box device. A screen appeared with some writing on it. Then he grabbed one of the rainbow colored devices and hit a star-shaped button.

"This mobile device connects wirelessly to the main computer." Tugs explained. "The computer is programmed to show us where, exactly, on earth someone is having a problem caring or sharing their feelings. It literally detects when someone is not caring and sends us the location on this mobile device, enabling us to find the person with ease, and without getting lost!"

The crowd whispered and nodded approvingly to each other.

Hugs unrolled the map and tacked it to the wall. "Each time we head out to help someone, we'll put a colored pin on this map. This way, we'll have a visual record of where problems come from, and how frequently they occur in certain areas, thus increasing our chances of helping people solve problems in affected areas!"

The whispers turned into cheering.

"We call this invention, the "Global Caring System", or "GCS"". Tugs finished, throwing the crowd into an uproar.

"Oh, we're so proud of you two!" True Heart gushed.

"This invention is going to revolutionize the way we help people! You two are geniuses!" Noble Heart added.

"Well, credit where credit is due." Tugs shrugged. "Tender Heart and Grumpy Bear helped us with a lot of the programming. They deserve some of the credit!"

"Hey don't short change yourselves!" Tender Heart shouted from the crowd.

"Yeah!" Grumpy called. "This contraption was your idea!"

"Well, there's one thing I'm sure of." Cheer Bear called from the center of the crowd. "This calls for a celebration!"

"I'm with Cheer on this one!" Hugs sang out. "Let's get this graduation party started!"

And so, the Care Bear Family excitedly celebrated the terrific day by throwing a big party in honor of Hugs and Tugs' graduation and impressive invention. They played games, sang and danced and enjoyed generous portions of cake, ice cream and other delectable confections. Soon, the golden peaks of the clouds glowed bright pink, the sky aflame with the flamboyant colors of sunset. Many of the Care Bears and Cousins had already gone home, ready to rest after the festivities of the stimulating day.

Just as they were about to call it a day, Noble Heart and True Heart were suddenly confronted by a very excitable Star Buddy. The care takers listened carefully to the twinkling of the star, taking in the message. It was deciphered; Noble Heart and True Heart were being summoned by the Great Wishing Star himself. They wasted no time in hopping into a cloud car and taking off towards the Kingdom of Caring. True Heart seemed particularly nostalgic about the trip. They hadn't been there since they were first brought into the protective bosom of the clouds by the Wishing Star.

It was night by the time they reached the benevolent entity. It smiled warmly as they approached.

 _"Well now...if it isn't my old friends. True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse. I believe congratulations are in order. Because of you 2, yet another couple of Care Bears have been recruited, and you have inspired them to create a most wonderful invention. Bravo, you two. Bravo."_

Nobel Heart and True Heart couldn't say a word. They blushed and looked away coyly, humbled by the Great Wishing Star's kind words. He continued.

 _"I called you here today for a very special reason. I have an incredibly important mission for the two of you. Are you up for it?"_

The two looked at each other questioningly for a moment, then smiled and nodded to the star. The star chuckled lightly.

 _"I knew I could count on you!"_ There was a bright glow next to the star, where a small gray cloud suddenly appeared. _"Now this is a very special package. More special than you could imagine."_

The cloud slowly drifted to the care takers, who eyed it curiously. It stopped just a few feet from them. Then, the cloud started to gently bounce up and down, almost as if it were breathing. A coo could be heard from inside, followed by a tiny 'ka-chu!' The cloud suddenly popped, revealing a small blue fluffy cub in its place. True Heart lost her breath at the sight of its big, soulful yellow eyes.

"Oh my..." She managed to gasp out.

 _"Meet Timid Heart Wolf."_ The Star introduced with a warm smile. _"This little orphan pup, if raised carefully, will have a very important Care Mission when he grows up. And I need you two to make sure he will be ready for such a big responsibility."_

True Heart barely caught any of the Star's words. She looked at the little pup, captivated. He was deep sea blue with a white tummy and muzzle and a gray mask on his face. He had a black tipped tail, a black tuft of fur on his head and tiny black ears. But it was his eyes; golden as the sun, and just as big and round. The pup, too, stared intently at True Heart, tilting his over-sized head left and right, as though trying to figure out what she was. Finally, the pup smiled, waged his tail and lean forward to give True Heart a lick on her nose. She squealed in delight, unintentionally scaring the pup. He jumped back, his leg slipping off the edge. Noble Heart lurched forward and grabbed him before he fell.

The Star chuckled again. _"One thing you should know about wolf pups, is that they scare very easily, and are easily traumatized. Take special care to make sure he stays safe and feels secure. In time, he will get braver."_

"May I ask, Wishing Star...what is Timid Heart's special mission?" Noble Heart inquired as the pup curiously nibbled his mane.

The Star suddenly became sullen. _"There's a sickness on Earth now. It's caused when a human suffers from a traumatic experience which inhibits their ability to trust and affects their ability to care and feel. We call it the "Care Scare". More and more humans suffer from it every year, and it makes them immune to your efforts. Timid Heart will be the one who helps people overcome their trauma so that your methods can be effective again. Without Timid Heart, The Care Bear Family will be unable to help those with Care Scare."_

Noble Heart clutched the pup tightly, realizing his importance. True Heart looked proudly into the Star's face.

"Don't worry, Great Wishing Star. Noble Heart and I will take care of Timid Heart and keep him safe. You can count on us."

Confident in their abilities, True Heart and Noble Heart accepted responsibility for the little wolf pups' care. Not wanting to drive all the way back to Care-A-Lot that night, the two decided to spend the night in the old nursery where Tender Heart, Grumpy, Brave Heart Lion, and the rest of the Care Bear family were raised as cubs, at least until they were moved to Care-A-Lot and The Forest of Feelings.

Tired from the drive and the exciting day, Noble Heart and True Heart decided to get the pup ready for bed. But they quickly realized that the wolf pup was going to be a challenge. After 15 attempts at keeping a diaper on him, they gave up. Timid Heart ripped it off moments after they got it on him. He had a ravenous appetite, chewed up all the pacifiers and was gone the moment their eyes were no longer on him. After 3 short hours, the care takers were even more exhausted than before. The pup finally tired himself out and was placed in one of the cribs, where he curled up comfortably and went to sleep. Confident he was out for the night, Noble Heart and True Heart nestled into their perspective beds and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

But no more than 2 hours later, Timid Heart was awake again. And he was wanting to explore. He chewed through the wooden crib and tumbled to the floor. He crawled around in the dark, but quickly became bored of that. He wanted to explore outside the room. And that's when he noticed it. A sliver of light shining from under the door. He crawled to it and pushed on the door. It opened, spilling silver light through the opening and filling the room. The light didn't bother the sleeping care takers, whose faces were buried in their pillows. Timid Heart stepped outside with trepidation. Wolves don't like the unknown. But something caught his eye. He'd seen it on the way there, but was restrained by Noble Heart's protective grasp. But now, he crawled right for it, his large eyes aglow.

The object of his fascination; the Moon. The little wolf crawled enthusiastically towards the massive silver orb. As he edged closer and closer towards it, he struggled to stand up straight, and finally succeeded. He now stood at the edge of the cloud, staring longingly at the weightless balloon that seemingly floated just out of reach. He reached his short arm out towards the moon, stretching his chubby fingers as far as they'd go. He could almost feel his claws scrape against it. Just a little further. He inched closer, reaching and stretching with all he had.

So close. So close...

The cloud beneath him gave way suddenly. In a split second, Timid Heart was experiencing a strange sensation of a great wind whipping through his fur as it felt as though he were being pulled by an invisible force. The wind was deafening as it ripped through is tiny ears and cut at his eyes. At first, the sensation of falling was lulling, relaxing; felt like flying. But after a few moments of that, an even greater sensation set in. Fear. Like an alarm going off inside his head, Timid Heart suddenly became aware of his predicament and panicked. He flailed and flapped, causing his body to roll and tumble mid air. That didn't help. Rather, it made the situation feel even more out of control, for now Timid Heart couldn't keep track of how close the ground was. Falling, tumbling, plummeting. The wind stinging his eyes and numbing his body. He managed to grab a quick glance of the fast approaching ground below. It was getting closer. Closer. The last sensation set in. Bone chilling terror. An unyielding desire to live. Closer still. It would be over in seconds. Falling face down now, Timid Heart could only cry out in horror as he approached the hard ground below. And cry out he did; a long, desperate howl.

 **"AaaaahhhhOOOOoooooooooo!"**

His tummy tickled, stung, and finally burned. Luminescence exploded from the pups' tummy, filling the entire area with a blast of blinding light and debris. A surge of power forcefully ejected out of a newly formed symbol on Timid Heart's tummy, sending a cloud of dirt from below into Timid Heart's face, eyes and mouth. The power hit the earth with a resonating boom.

* * *

About a half a mile away, a make-shift tent hung over a low hanging tree branch fluttered wildly in a blast of air caused by the distant impact. A hooded figure crawled out of the tent opening and stood tall in the shadows of the trees. Then came the blast of light. The figure turned towards it, eyes narrowed. The light shone bright for a few moments, the died down just as suddenly as it started. The hooded figure hummed suspiciously before bolting off in the direction of the blast. Even in the near pitch black of the forest, the figure moved with fleet-footed speed and efficiency through the hidden obstacles in the wilderness.

* * *

Dust filled the air, a cool breeze offered just enough disturbance to keep the cloud of dirt from settling. Within the cloud, Timid Heart struggled to catch his breath, choking and gasping violently. His tongue was covered with dirt. Dirt filled his eyes, making them burn and itch. He crawled around blindly, searching desperately for fresh air. Finally, he found refuge out of the cloud and under the open sky, where he collapsed on his belly, gasping desperately for oxygen.

There was no doubt that the blast from his belly had cushioned the impact of his fall, as well as caused the dust storm.

Once he was able to breath a little easier, he sat up and began rubbing his eyes, trying desperately to clean the dirt out. By the time he was done, he had smudges of brown around both eyes, and the eyes themselves were reddened and irritated. His vision was a bit blurred, but he was now able to see well enough to take in his surroundings. First, there was darkness. Then shapes began to fill in; tree branches, boulders and bushes. But still, so much dark. Timid Heart whined quietly to himself, searching for light. Then, his vision cleared fully, and the light caught his eyes. He looked up, and his heart sunk.

The moon. The beautiful silver orb that captivated him so; now sat high above him in the sky. Its greatness diminished to that of a small light far, far out of reach. Then a new realization kicked in. If the moon was that far away, then home must be...

It hit him all at once. He wasn't anywhere near home. He was lost. He was all alone.

His eyes widened. His legs turned into rubber and his knees shook. He wrapped his tail around his hip and grasped the tip tightly in his paws, and began to shake all over. His breathing was rapid at first as his heart beat forcefully against his chest. Then, he did the only thing he could think to do. Timid Heart sat on his bottom, still gripping his tail, and started to cry. He whimpered pathetically, using his free hand to wipe the dirty tears that streamed down his face, leaving a tiny mud trail in their wake.

He sat there, the poor baby wolf, and cried miserably.

A twig snapped. He ceased his sobbing with a sharp gasp, whipping his head around and struggling to see into the blackness of the forest beyond. Another twig snapped; another terrified gasp from the pup. His tear filled eyes were wide with fright and his tiny ears perked up when the sound of rapid foot steps became apparent. Someone—or something- was coming.

Timid Heart quickly scurried under a nearby bush. It was a poor hiding choice, and if it were daytime, it wouldn't have been of any use at all. But, perhaps in the shadows of the night, he may go unnoticed. He made himself as small as possible and watched in horrified silence as a hooded figure suddenly leapt from the blackness of the forest onto a fallen tree.

The figure looked back from where they came, then brought their attention to the clearing. The breeze swiftly blew back the figure's hood, revealing their face. It was a girl, around 14 years old. Her raven black hair was in a ponytail, clusters of shorter hair segments hung around her face and eyes. Her eyes were dark and large. Her face was stern and suspicious, but appealing and well proportioned. Her thick lips were parted slightly in a pant. She'd just run ½ mile after all, and so was slightly winded. Her hoodie sweatshirt bore a purple hood and arms, but from the top of the chest down was gray. The sweatshirt, along with her green pants, was baggy, a little dirty and a bit torn up; evidence of her living situation. She seemed a bit tall for her age, and all in all, was very fit.

She squinted her large dark eyes as she examined the scene. The dust was just about settled, but it was clear that something had disturbed it just moments ago. Some plants even appeared singed. The cause of the damaged area was seemingly an explosion of sorts. And it didn't look natural either.

From her perch atop the fallen tree, she scanned the area some more. Perhaps the culprit was still there. Her hard gaze scanned every bush and rock in the area. That cold, dark gaze. It was intimidating. Timid Heart shifted nervously under that gaze, stepping on a dead leaf.

The crackling sound in the silence was like gunfire. The girls' eyes were immediately on the bush. Then they were on Timid Heart's small, frightened form. Suddenly, her gaze softened. Her entire demeanor changed. Her dominant, rigid stance folded as she gracefully stepped down from the log and sunk to her knees. The great reduction in her size made Timid Heart find her less threatening. He lifted his head slightly to get a better look. The girl inched closer, her eyes never leaving the pup's frightened yellow ones.

"Well, now..." She spoke in a gentle whisper. ""What have we got here?"

She was right near the bush now. Timid Heart backed away, whimpering and shaking.

"It's okay little guy." She cooed. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Come on out."

Timid Heart wanted to, but his fear was too strong. He backed away, retreating deeper beneath the bush. But a couple steps into it made him realize that he'd run all out of bush to hide beneath, and was exposed once again. Before he could skitter back under, her hand was under his belly and he was scooped up. In the air he went for a brief moment before reaching the thick warmth of the sweatshirt. He found it comforting. He cautiously looked up, meeting with the girls' face in the moonlight. She smiled.

"Well aren't you the cutest little thing. Wonder where you came from."

Timid Heart listened to her query, and instinctively looked up at the moon. The girl noticed the reaction and looked up too.

"Up there?" She tilted her head curiously, then looked back down at the pup. "You must be a guardian angel, then." She teased as she inspected him closely, shaking her head. " _What_ are you? You look like a wolf...but you kinda look like a baby too." She giggled. "I guess that just makes you a baby wolf, huh?"

Timid Heart smiled. She wasn't so bad.

"And look at that weird mark on your tummy. Never seen a wolf or baby with something like that. It must mean you're special."

Timid Heart looked curiously at his own tummy. To his surprise, there was a mark there! A bright red heart with a gray wolf silhouette howling against it. Above the heart were two gold stars. He didn't have that before. He brought his wide eyed gaze back to the girls' face.

"So, little guy...do you have anywhere to stay?"

Timid Heart lowered his head sadly. It would be impossible to get back home. He sniffled and, keeping his eyes down, shook his head no.

The girl frowned sympathetically. "Do you have anyone to take care of you?"

Again, the pup sniffled, more pathetically this time. He looked back up at her, eyes once again large and full of tears, and shook his head no. His lower lip jutted out and trembled.

The girl sighed, her heart aching for the poor lonely pup. She boosted him closer to her face, her expression soft and genuine.

"My name is Colette. Do you have a name?"

The pup nodded, wiping his nose with the back of his paw.

"Can you tell me what it is? Can you...talk?"

Timid Heart took a deep breath, and gave it his best shot. "Ti-Tim-Tim..." He struggled with his tiny voice. "Tim...Timi...ha..." His communication skills were not yet adequate enough. He grunted in frustration. "Timi-t...har...Timi-t...har."

Colette gave an amused half-grin. "How about I just call you 'Timmy?'"

Timid Heart smiled. Good enough.

"Well, Timmy," She held him up. "How about you stay with me? Would you like that?" She brought him back against her chest and cupped his bottom with one hand while rubbing his head and ears with the other.

Timid Heart smiled and wagged his tail. He reached up and licked her nose. Colette laughed and hugged the little pup closer. Timid Heart rested his head against her neck, hugging what he could with his short chubby arms. She whispered into his ear.

"Don't worry little guy. I'll take care of you, protect you, and never let anything or anyone hurt you."

Filled with joy and relief, Timid Heart snuggled closer, burying his face in her neck. Their hearts beat in unison and at that moment, a powerful bond was formed. The love in that hug was so strong, it pulsated across the field, through the trees and into the sky.

* * *

Well after midnight, Tender Heart sleepily wandered into the kitchen, drank a glass of water, and, in a state of half-sleep, wandered back towards his room. As he passed the window, there was a sudden jolt that made the whole house jump, followed quickly by an upbeat ring of the Caring Meter. Tender Heart looked out the window at the Meter, his sleepy eyes now wide.

"What the...did the Caring Meter just go _up_ a few points?" He looked into the darkness and listened, but there seemed to be no further disturbance. He looked back, bewildered, at the Caring Meter. "That's never happened before. I wonder what caused that?" He pondered for a few moments longer before finally retreating back to his room. Sleep would not likely come easy now.

* * *

The sun crept into the sky, once again illuminating the clouds in its brilliance. It shone through the windows of the Kingdom of Caring nursery, casting its heavenly light on Timid Heart's empty crib.

And the serenity of the sunrise was shattered as True Heart's horrified scream cut through the air like a blade.


	3. Chapter 2

Care Bears III: The Search for Timid Heart

 **Chapter 2:**

* * *

Back in No Heart's castle, the villains were hard at work gathering ingredients for a special spell. The Spirit had given them an incredibly long list of supplies they would need to put the spell into action. The ingredients were tossed in a massive smoking cauldron. But there was still much work to do.

 _"Make haste."_ The Spirit ordered. _"Gather all you can here, but many of the ingredients will need to be found outside this castle."_

Beastly weakly emptied a sack of ingredients into the cauldron, then sighed and sunk to his knees.

"I'm exhausted! We've been at this for hours. What is this spell supposed to do again?"

 _"It will render those bears completely helpless."_ The Spirit answered, annoyed.

"Oh, right! Umm...how?"

 _"ENOUGH!"_ The Spirit snapped at Beastly, who yelped and hid behind the cauldron. _"We're wasting time. Get back to wor..."_

Suddenly, an unseen force pulsated through the castle. So powerful, it knocked the Spirit and the bottle containing Dark Heart off the table, and the others off their feet. It also caused them all to feel a strong wave of pain. No Heart cried out, for the powerful jolt hurt him the most, but all the villains moaned miserably, all affected by the strange phenomenon.

Shreeky sat up, rubbing her lower back. "Wha...what was that?"

"I dunno..." Beastly answered with a grunt. "But it really hurt."

"So...much...caring." No Heart groaned, grasping at his chest. "Spirit...what...what just happened? Where...did that come from?"

A muffled noise came from the floor near the table. The open book was face down on the ground.

"Gah! Beastly! Pick up the Book and put her back on the table!" No Heart ordered.

Beastly let out a long groan. "But, No Heart! I'm hurt too..."

"NOW!" The wizard roared.

Beastly quickly jumped to his feet and made a beeline for the book.

 _ **"Hey...can someone put me back on the table too-OOOO!"**_ Dark Heart requested before Beastly kicked him across the floor as he made his way to the book.

The bottle went rolling across the room and banged into a wall, leaving Dark Heart jostled and dizzy.

 _ **"THANKS!"**_ He shouted sarcastically.

Beastly gently picked up the book and set it back on the table. The Spirit spat the dirt out of her mouth and stretched her jaw a few times, as though it were sore. She scowled at the other villains.

 _"That..."_ She stopped to catch her breath. _"...Was a very powerful burst of love."_

"Dees-gusting!" Shreeky grimaced.

Cold Heart struggled to his feet, grappling at the wall. "Well that burst of... _love_..." He said the word as though it tasted like poison. "...Almost broke my hip!"

"Where did it come from?" No Heart asked again, regaining enough strength to get back on his feet.

 _"I...I don't know."_ The Spirit sighed. _"It seems to have temporarily weakened my power. But I do know what it means."_

"Tell us." No Heart said sullenly.

 _ **"No, no! Don't mind me!"**_ Dark Heart called again from across the room. _**"I'll just stay here on the floor."**_

 _"It was a sign..."_ The Spirit continued. _"It means that destiny has set our plan into motion. We must not waste anymore time. We must continue with the spell. It will take a long time to get it just right. Quickly, back to work!"_

The other villains weakly set out again to start collecting more items. The pulse of caring weakened them all, but they were all willing to continue on, for the good-or rather, the bad-of the plan.

 _ **"You're all seriously just going to leave me down here?!"**_ Dark Heart snapped at them all as they passed him.

The Spirit rolled her eyes. _"Someone put him back up here."_ She ordered halfheartedly.

Shreeky snatched the bottle on her way out and tossed it carelessly over her shoulder. Dark Heart howled wildly as he flew through the air. Miraculously he landed on the table, only to tumble sideways against the pages of the open book.

Alone in the dark room together, the Spirit looked down at Dark Heart and grinned.

 _"Wishing we had a body again, don't we?"_

Dark Heart's eyes narrowed into tiny glowing slits. _**"Don't talk to me."**_ He growled.

The Spirit flipped her pages, righting Dark Heart's bottle. His eyes popped open briefly in surprise of the gesture before narrowing to their usual scowl.

 _"Do not feel ashamed. I too, long for the convenience of having a body. We are in the same predicament, you and I."_

 _ **"You are NOT in the same predicament as me. YOU still have power. I've been relegated to the life of a snow-globe. I have no power, no rights. They've all been taken from me. So don't you tell me we are in the same boat, because we're not."**_

 _"Would you like a new body? All your powers? Your freedom?"_

Dark Heart's eyes widened a bit more.

 _"I can make it happen, you know."_ The Spirit offered. _"I can help you."_

 _ **"In exchange for what?"**_ He asked suspiciously, once again bringing his eyes to a sharp narrow. _**"Surely you demand something in return. So what it is you want from me?"**_

 _"Your help, of course."_ Her voice became soft and breathy, as though she were speaking to a lover. _"I wasn't lying when I told you you shouldn't have lost to those bears. You almost defeated them. You were so close. Were it not for that distraction, you would have been...victorious. You can be victorious. You WILL be victorious, this time..."_

 _ **"I have no interest in any form of revenge on those dumb little bears."**_ He grumbled.

 _"Ah, but you DO have interest in getting your freedom. And you shall have it. You shall have it all. But we cannot defeat the bears without you. We need you, Dark Heart. I need you. Do this for us...for me...and you shall have your powers back, and a new body. And you will never again have to be at the mercy of No Heart. What do you say?"_

Her voice was lulling and tempted him greatly. But his stubbornness was powerful as well.

 _ **"I'll...I'll think about it."**_ He finally replied, his voice conveying genuine interest.

The Spirit smirked to herself.

After several hours of work, all ingredients that could be found in the castle had been collected, and the exhausted villains now rested in the dark cold room.

The sun rose, rays of light filtering through the storm clouds that surrounding the castle. The Spirit eyed the sunlight, then looked over at a large wall near the cauldron.

 _"Professor."_ She commanded in almost a whisper.

Cold Heart, sitting with his back against the cauldron, lifted his head tiredly.

 _"We need a mirror. Accommodate us."_

He looked at the wall the Spirit gestured to, then sighed. "Very well."

He struggled to his feet, still weak from the work and the pulse of love earlier in the night. He pointed his frosty finger at the wall and with a chilling glow and freezing breeze, a blast of ice exploded from the withered digit and hit the wall. When the snow cleared, a massive full-sized sheet of reflective ice coated the wall.

Cold Heart sunk back down, his legs folding under him. He leaned against the cauldron again, panting.

 _"Excellent."_ The Spirit smiled.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, her pages flipped violently across her face and she whispered an unsettling incantation. The sheet of ice on the wall cracked, glowed and finally took on an almost liquid-like appearance.

Slowly, the very image of Care-a-Lot appeared in the mirror. It was still at first, but then the image came to life with movement, almost like they were seeing it from a window. As the image became more lively, the Care Bears and Cousins came into view. They all appeared to be talking about something important. A few moments later, their words become audible.

The villains gathered closely around the mirror, watching and listening intently.

* * *

All the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins were gathered around the Hall of Hearts. They chattered and whispered among themselves, confused over the unusually early emergency meeting. At the front of the crowd stood Tender Heart, who was immediately joined by Grumpy Bear.

Grumpy yawned and stretched, then tiredly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"What's going on Tender Heart?"

"I'm not sure Grumpy Bear. All I know is, Grams Bear got an emergency message from a shooting star all the way from The Kingdom of Caring."

"A shooting star?" Grumpy gasped. "Gosh, those are only for the biggest emergencies! I hope Noble Heart and True Heart are okay."

Immediately after Grumpy finished his sentence, Grams Bear rushed out of the Hall of Hearts, waving the message wildly.

"Attention everyone! Get into the nearest Cloud Roller or Cloud Car immediately! Noble Heart and True Heart need our help! I'll explain on the way!"

Everyone scattered, climbing into their vehicles and speeding off towards the birthplace of the Care Bears Family.

The trip that normally took a leisurely couple hours was made in record time. Breathless, the Family gathered around outside the very place they were brought as cubs so long ago. But the nostalgia of the moment would have to wait. True Heart and Noble Heart exited the castle and hurriedly made their way towards the crowd, flanked on both sides by several concerned looking Star Buddies. Their faces seemed grim, especially True Heart's. Tender Heart and Grumpy exchanged worried looks.

Everyone fell silent as True Heart proceeded.

"As...Grams Bear has informed...you." She paused, taking a few deep breaths. "We were blessed last night with a wonderful gift from the Wishing Star. A new cousin..." She paused again, closed her eyes for a moment, then continued. "Baby...Timid Heart...Wolf." She paused yet again, swallowed, sighed, and went on. "But, sometime late last night, he...he must have escaped his bed and...and..." She bit her lower lip, and quiet sob escaped.

Noble Heart stepped forward. "Sometime last night, Little Timid Heart escaped. We...we believe he tumbled down to Earth."

The crowd gasped in horror.

"Don't worry; we sent some Star Buddies down and they reported seeing paw prints and human foot prints around where we believe he landed. He's alright." Noble Heart quickly cleared up.

The crowed sighed in relief.

"However..." True Heart took over again, surprising Noble Heart. "...We need to send teams down to search for him! The Great Wishing Star informed us that Timid Heart has a very important Care Mission that he must be trained for. We cannot risk that sensitive little pup being taken off that path. We must find him as quickly as possible. The problem is, the footprints led into a very large wilderness. He is probably in extreme danger. We cannot ignore the rest of the world and still have a job to help people Care. Until Timid Heart Wolf is found, we are going to have to work extra hard, splitting up our time between helping the world, and searching for our little cousin. We will do our part." She looked at Noble Heart, and nodded. "With that being said, half of you go back to Care-a-Lot to start your missions for the day. The other half of you, follow the Star Buddies to Earth and start searching. Teams will rotate between caring missions and the search for Timid Heart. We will not rest until we find him." She nodded to the Star Buddies, who scattered out towards the rest of the Family.

The crowed cheered briefly and went began to work out who would start the search and who would head back to Care-a-Lot for the days work. Tender Heart watched as the two Care Takers headed back inside the castle. He started up the stairs towards them.

Once inside, Noble Heart sighed and smiled gently. True Heart stood in front of him, facing away. Noble Heart put his paw on her back.

"You were very strong out there, True Heart. I'm proud of you." She shuddered under his touch, and he pricked his ears to her gentle whimpers. "True Heart?"

She turned to face him, her eyes filled with tears that streamed down her face, leaving behind a slender trail of dark, wet fur.

"Oh, Noble Heart!" She cried, throwing herself into his arms. "I'm so worried! I'm...so...worried..." She sobbed out the last sentence, trembling fiercely. "What if we don't find him? What if something horrible has happened to him?" She cried loudly, burying her face in his mane.

Noble Heart had never seen his dear friend so distressed. He held her tightly, leaning his head against hers.

"There, there, True Heart. Don't say things like that. We'll find him. No matter how long it takes. I promise we'll find him."

True Heart continued to cry her heart out while Noble Heart caressed and comforted her.

* * *

Tender Heart watched from the door, his face sullen with worry. He quietly backed out, shutting the door. Surely True Heart would not want anyone to see her like this.

"Hey, Tender Heart."

Tender Heart jumped at the touch of Grumpy's paw. It caused Grumpy to jump as well. He gave an annoyed grunt.

"Whoa, what's the matter with you?" He snapped.

"Grumpy!" Tender Heart shouted almost involuntarily. He suddenly had an idea, and Grumpy's presence helped spark it. He grabbed the blue bear's arm while scouring the crowd in search of another. "Now, where's..." He whispered to himself.

Grumpy raised a suspicious brow. "Uh...what're you doing?"

Tender Heart then spotted who he was looking for. "Hugs and Tugs! Hey! Over here!" He called, waving Grumpy's arm up and down.

Grumpy pulled his arm away. "Tender Heart! What's gotten into you?"

Hugs and Tugs jogged over to them. "What's up guys?" Hugs asked.

"Are you 2 going on the search or back to Care-a-Lot?" Tugs inquired.

Tender Heart said nothing, but motioned for the other 3 to follow him behind the castle. They followed reluctantly. Once safely concealed, the questions began.

"Alright, so what's the big idea?" Grumpy asked first.

"Guys...last night, just after midnight, I had woken up to get a quick snack, and was on my way back to bed when the Caring Meter suddenly went up a few points." Tender Heart spouted out quickly.

The other three looked at each other curiously.

"Big deal." Grumpy said first. "The Caring Meter has been off since that time Dark Heart pretended to be the Caring Meter Reader and messed with it. Granted, it's never gone _up_ before, but whatever it did last night shouldn't be taken too seriously."

"That's right Tender Heart." Tugs agreed. "It's why Hugs and I invented the GCS. The Caring Meter just isn't reliable anymore, and the technology is too outdated to repair it."

"But that's not the only thing." Tender Heart continued, looking over his shoulder quickly to see if they were being watched. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "There was this strange pulse that shook up all the clouds before the Meter went up. It felt..warm, and happy. It felt like...a _lot_ of caring."

"So what do you think it means?" Grumpy asked, a little intrigued.

"I'm not sure...but it seems to coincide with Timid Heart's disappearance." Tender Heart deduced, rubbing his chin.

"But how do you know it has anything to do with Timid Heart?" Hugs asked next.

"That's the thing. I don't. It's why I didn't bring it up to True Heart. She seems to be taking this really bad. I saw her crying in the castle. And I don't want to get her hopes up, or anyone else's for that matter. But I just think it's too coincidental to ignore. I think we should look into it." Tender Heart finished with a nod.

"How?" Grumpy scoffed, crossing his arms.

Tender Heart looked over at the new graduates. "With Hugs and Tugs invention."

"But Tender Heart, our invention looks for Uncaring signals." Hugs reminded him.

"True. But isn't there a way to make a second GCS that looks for strong Caring signals?"

The two thought for a moment, then Tugs snapped his fingers. "Well sure! We just have to reverse the system! It shouldn't take very long."

"That's perfect!" Tender Heart cheered. "If another pulse of Caring happens, I'll be able to track it. If that pulse last night really was coming from Timid Heart, the new system should make it easy to pinpoint where it's coming from if it happens again."

"Oh goody goody gosh, Tender Heart! Do you really think it will work?" Hugs excitedly embraced him.

Tender Heart released a small giggle. "I don't know Hugs! But I sure hope so. It's the only thing we have to go on. Trying to find him in that big wilderness could take forever. So maybe we can track him instead."

"Hey you guys!" Brave Heart Lion's voice called out, startling them. "Are you gonna help or not? Come on! We still need 2 more to go back to Care-a-Lot."

"We'll go!" Tugs volunteered himself and his sister. He quickly winked at Tender Heart. "Don't worry, we're on it." He whispered.

"We're counting on you two." Tender Heart whispered back. "And so is Timid Heart."

Hugs and Tugs nodded in unison before taking off towards their cloud cars.

Brave Heart watched in confusion then turned to Grumpy and Tender Heart.

"What were you guys talking about?" The lion inquired curiously, scratching his head.

"Don't worry about it, Brave Heart." Tender Heart insisted. "We gotta focus on the important thing"

"Right! Let's go find our little cousin! CHARGE!" Brave Heart made a bee line for one of the cloud rollers.

Grumpy looked worriedly at Tender Heart. "Do you really think we'll be able to find Timid Heart with Hugs and Tugs invention?"

Tender Heart signed, staring off into the middle distance. "I sure hope so, Grumpy Bear. I sure hope so."

* * *

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, out of range of the desperate calls of the Care Bear Family, little Timid Heart Wolf snuggled contently against Colette's body, safe and warm in the little make shift tent. The girl smiled, draping her arm over the pup and pulling him closer.

* * *

The mirror in the villains lair focused on the wolf pup and the girl. The Spirit narrowed her eyes, grinning.

 _"There you are."_ She hissed.

"The leader of the bears said that wolf pup has an important care mission. It sounds like it will grow up to be a big threat to us." No Heart pointed out. "It must be our target."

 _"Correct."_ The Spirit confirmed. _"When the time is right, we will go capture it. Once it is in our possession, we will inform the Bears that we have it. They will all come. Every last one of them. And when they do, our spell will be ready."_

"Me and Beastly can go get the little mutt now!" Shreeky proclaimed. "C'mon Beastly."

The two started towards the door.

 _"NO!"_ The Spirit shouted, bringing Shreeky and Beastly to an instant halt; but not before Beastly crashed into Shreeky, earning him a punch in the head. _"I said 'when the time is right'."_ The Spirit clarified. _"If you go out there now, even if you find him, the Care Bears and their Cousins are everywhere around that forest. They would discover you and defeat you with ease. Then they will have the wolf. No, our time must be spent preparing the spell. All of you, get back to work collecting the ingredients! It will take a long time to cook the spell, and those Bears won't be finding that wolf pup anytime soon. It is not foreseen. We have time and we must spend it wisely. The time will be right when the spell is ready, and not a moment before then."_

Cold Heart, No Heart, Shreeky and Beastly looked at one another suspiciously.

 _"GO."_ The Spirit commanded, causing lightning to crack outside. _"GO NOW."_

The villains quickly got to their feet, grabbed their empty bags and headed out the door to start the arduous process of collecting all the ingredients. Once again, the Spirit and Dark Heart were alone in the castle.

After several minutes of silence, Dark Heart spoke up.

 _ **"Spirit."**_

She smirked. _"Yes, Dark Heart?"_

 _ **"I have made my decision."**_

 _"Oh?"_

 _ **"I will help you."**_ He said solemnly. _**"In exchange for a new body and my powers, I will retrieve the wolf myself when the time is right."**_

The Spirit's mouth curled even more to form a wicked, threatening smile. _"A wise decision indeed. After all, we couldn't do it without you..."_


	4. Chapter 3

Care Bears III: The Search for Timid Heart

 **Chapter 3:**

* * *

Time came and went. Spring turned into summer. Summer became fall. Fall was defeated by the frozen bite of winter. Finally, spring returned once again...

The sun had not yet woken up. The forest was cold and still, mellow fog hung sleepily below the frosted trees. The veil of fog hugged the trunks of the trees and concealed the boulders in its cold blanket. The green ferns and bushes slept under the frozen dew that clung to the leaves, waiting for the sun to melt it. Silence graced the slumbering wilderness, with the exception of the occasional croak of the stirring woodpecker or the calm hoot of the horned owl settling in the shadowy branches above the fog.

It started as a distant rustle, then grew into solid, fast-paced footfalls. The still forest was disturbed suddenly by a hooded blur of purple, gray and green, followed swiftly by a blur of blue. The duo zoomed by, leaving behind a small trail of disturbed underbrush that fluttered briefly before settling back on the forest floor, and sending the frozen drops of dew raining into the dirt.

The hooded blur glided effortlessly through the fog, gracefully dodging and leaping over the hidden boulders and branches. The speed of the figure filled the hood with wind, causing it to fly off, revealing Colette's grinning face and flowing black hair; her cheeks red from the exhilarating run through the cold mountain air. Ahead, a massive log. She narrowed her eyes, her smile growing. She lifted her eyes to a branch above. She leapt, grabbing the branch, freely swinging her body over the large log. She landed on her feet on the other side, continuing her dash without breaking stride.

Keeping up from a slightly elevated mountain trail, the blue blur galloped through the ferns, leaping logs, scaling up boulders and finally leaping down and joining Colette's side. A stream suddenly appeared through the fog, but the duo simply increased their speed and lifted off at the same time.

For a split second, time seemed to stop as the team flew over the water. Colette looked over into the big, happy, yellow eyes of her companion. _Her baby_. Timid Heart had grown into a beautiful wolf; his deep azure fur long and flowing around his face, back and tail.

Their bond was evident, and unmatched by any other. And for those few seconds, they seemed to be the only two creatures in the world.

Within moments, the rest of the world returned, and they caught the ground under their feet as they fleetly continued their morning run. Up, up, up, they went, Colette now needing to incorporate her parkour skills to efficiently scale the mountain's obstacles. Timid Heart made it to the top first, panting heavily. The breeze felt good as it blew through his long coat, briefly parting the thick white fur on his tummy, revealing flashes of color from his now hidden and still mysterious symbol. He focused on the pink horizon.

"Hurry, mommy! You'll miss it!" He called out behind him, his eyes locked on the beautiful sky.

"I'm trying!" Colette called breathlessly, losing steam as she approached the top. "Cut me some slack, Timmy. I only have two legs!"

Fatigued, she dragged herself up the last few feet, collapsing by Timid Heart's side. He rubbed his head against her arm. She giggled and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into her lap and hugging him tightly. Now, they both watched the sky in silence as the sun crept out from behind the distant mountains, shedding golden light on the forest and hills below. The beautiful beams of fresh sunlight glimmered off the rivers and streams, washing them in a sea of gold and bathing the barren parts of the surrounding mountains in a majestic purple glow.

Finally, the beams reached the team. The silvery, frosted forest around them transformed into a vibrant shade of green as the frost melted into dew and began to drip off the leaves. The warm rays kissed the chilly faces of the duo. They both closed their eyes and sighed simultaneously, contently absorbing their spectacular surroundings and the delightfully mild warmth offered by the burning star. Colette buried her face in Timid Heart's head fur and breathed in his lupine scent. Timid Heart leaned back, staring into the eyes of his protector, his love. _His mommy_.

In the early morning sunrise, an invisible pulse of love burst into the sky and disappeared into the clouds. Unbeknownst to the duo, it wasn't the first time their love was so strong it could be felt above the clouds.

* * *

Back in No Heart's castle, everything was dark and cold, shrouded from the sun. Over the course of the year, Cold Heart, No Heart, Shreeky and Beastly had been working tirelessly to gather the ingredients for the Spirit's mysterious spell. They didn't understand the plan, nor did they know what the purpose was of the concoction they were being forced to create. No Heart had faith in the Spirit and didn't question her. He made the others do the same. Even Dark Heart, still imprisoned in the bottle, remained quietly suspicious but never again questioned the Spirit since he agreed to her deal.

The perpetually exhausted villains slept heavily in separate rooms. The Spirit remained on the table in the main throne room; Dark Heart slept contently on his own shelf in the same room. The castle was filled with the snores of the others. The Spirit opened her eyes slowly, her face no longer green, but gold, indicating weakened power.

She listened to the sleeping sounds of her associates and gazed over at the sheet of ice on the wall that Cold Heart had made. They had used it to watch their enemies, making sure none of them had yet found the prize.

She whispered an incantation to herself, causing the ice to crack, glow and show her what she wanted to see. She watched intently, no sound came from the magic "window"...she kept that to herself. No need to wake the others, after all...

* * *

The sun hung higher in the sky now, shedding light on the lower parts of the valley. Colette rested on her back, watching the clouds, playing with a long stem of grass between her teeth, while Timid Heart stood at the edge of the mountain, looking at the valley below. He perked his ears at the sight of some distant cabins near a lake. He wagged his tail.

"Mommy, look. Is that another summer camp?"

Colette sat up and looked over the edge. "Nah." She pulled the grass stem from her mouth. "That's a mountain resort."

Timid Heart leaned forward and sniffed the air. "Something smells good down there." He sniffed again. "Mmm...I smell bacon! And muffins!"

"Oh they only serve the best food to their guests." Colette nodded, replacing the grass stem between her teeth.

Timid Heart's belly rumbled. He patted it. "I sure am hungry. Wish we could get some of that food."

Colette smirked. "I might be able to work something out for us."

"Oh boy!" Timid Heart jumped up happily. "What're we waiting for?! Let's go get something to eat! I'm hungry as a wolf!"

Colette rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Timmy, you _are_ a wolf!"

"...oh yeah..."

Colette laughed as she got to her feet, tussling the fur tuft on Timid Heart's head. "C'mon. I'll race ya!" She took off down the mountain, grabbing tree branches as she descended and swinging to the next tree.

"Hey no fair! You got a head start! Wait for me!" Timid Heart leapt down after her.

* * *

Suddenly, the pulse of love reached the castle, shaking the walls and causing the mirror to shatter.

The Spirit moaned, trying to remain quiet. More color faded from her face. Those bursts of love were weakening all of them, except, seemingly, Dark Heart. She gasped and sighed, trying to hold her tongue. Once the initial pain wore off, she listened. After a few moments, the snoring sounds returned. The pulse had not awakened her exhausted companions. She looked over at the shattered ice wall, recalling what she had just seen.

The Spirit's eyes widened. _"The wait is over..."_ She whispered to herself. _"It's time..."_

Her eyes glowed yellow, and she mumbled another incantation. Within moments, glowing red eyes on black shapeless shadows appeared around her. Their eyes slowly started turning the same color as the Spirit's, absorbing her telepathic instructions. After a moment, her eyes returned to normal.

 _"Go."_ She demanded in a quiet growl.

No Heart's shadows obeyed and floated out the nearest windows, an important mission to complete.

Alone, the Spirit smiled weakly. _"Finally."_ She sighed.

On the shelf not too far away, Dark Heart opened his eyes into very slender slits, and glared suspiciously at the book.

* * *

In Care-a-Lot, most of the Care Bears and their cousins were already awake and preparing for the long day of work ahead. Tender Heart was still at home, preparing for his day as well. The Caring Meter boasted low notes as it fell several points. Few paid it heed, accustomed to its frequent down tones. Everyone's morning routine was suddenly interrupted by a random cloud quake. The sudden pulse caused the Meter to ping an upbeat note and go up a few points. Brave Heart passed the Meter, scratching his head.

"Dog-gone thing just can't make up its mind." He said, crossing his arms at the glitchy machine.

Everyone seemed to have grown accustomed to the random but brief quakes, and all were far too distracted by their missions to feel the burst of warmth that accompanied the quakes. But Tender Heart knew better. He quickly ran to a drawer and pulled out a rolled up map. It was a smaller version of the giant map that hung in the Hall of Hearts, and he marked areas on it with stickers instead of pegs.

He unrolled the map and pulled out his GCS device. It blinked for a moment, a digital map appearing on the screen. A pixelated heart appeared blinking on the location of the burst of love. Tender Heart looked at his paper map and placed a sticker on the spot the screen displayed. He stared at the map, the love bursts were indeed coming from the same general area; a 1,000 acre wilderness. He sighed. He felt deep down, his cousin was still alive somewhere in that forest.

A knock on his door snapped his attention off the map. He quickly put it away and ran to the door. He gasped when he saw True Heart. Her face seemed perpetually sad since the wolf pup had disappeared.

"Oh...good morning True Heart." He said politely.

True Heart forced a half-smile. But the sadness in her eyes remained the same. "Good morning Tender Heart. Here's today's schedules." She handed him a clip board.

He took it gently and looked it over. He frowned.

"There must be a mistake. Everyone is scheduled for Care Missions today."

"Yes." True Heart said stoically. "We're falling behind on our Missions. So we're going to focus on that today."

Tender Heart swallowed before asking. "What about...the search for Timid Heart?"

The pain in True Heart's eyes became even more evident, and Tender Heart immediately regretted asking.

"We...we need...to focus on our duty." She answered in a shaky voice. "We simply have no more time for...lost causes." She whispered the last part, dropping her head so that she stared at the ground. "It's been a year, Tender Heart. There's no sign of him. He's..he's gone."

She turned and started to walk away. Tender Heart watched, eyes wide. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He looked back at the drawer that contained his map. The last hope. He looked back at True Heart, who was almost out of view.

"True Heart!" Tender Heart called out to her suddenly, shocking himself.

She stopped and turned slightly. "Yes?" He could hear the cry in her voice.

He wanted so bad to tell her about his map. That there might still be hope if they all searched that forest. He wanted to tell her, 'True Heart, I think I might know where we can find him.'

But he hesitated. What if he was wrong? What if those bursts of love came from an unrelated source? What if it was nothing at all? True Heart's hopes would have been crushed all over again. Tender Heart bit his lower lip and sighed.

"I...just wanted to tell you...have a good day, True Heart." He finally coughed out, feeling silly.

True Heart half smiled again. "You too, Tender Heart." She answered, her voice portraying the same pain as her eyes. With that, she disappeared into the Hall of Hearts.

Tender Heart sighed again, looked back down at the Mission schedule, then closed his door and headed for the cloud cars.

True Heart wandered to the upper balcony of the Hall of Hearts, watching the others climb solemnly into their cloud cars and rollers, heading out for the day. They were all disappointed and confused by True Heart's sudden disinterest in continuing the search for their little cousin. She watched, her entire body full of sadness and defeat. Alone, she folded her arms against the railing, buried her face in them, and cried. Something she'd been doing a lot of over the past year.

"I'm sorry..." She wept to herself. "I'm sorry I let you down Timid Heart. Now we'll never know where you are."

* * *

Timid Heart peeked from behind a tree. Colette peeked out above him. They eyed the resort from several yards away, the scent of the food was tantalizingly close now, and both of their stomachs rumbled.

"There's the main building. I'll go in and grab us some food. You stay here and don't let anyone see you, okay?" Colette whispered.

Timid Heart held his roaring tummy. "Okay, mommy. But hurry! I'm starving!"

"You're always starving." Colette giggled. "Just wait here and I'll be back in a little bit."

With that, she started towards the site, disappearing among the cabins and reappearing as she started up the steps to the main building.

Timid Heart watched her go, his stomach's demanding growls were deafening. He moaned, gripping at his belly fur. He was insatiable. And the close proximity of the scent of food was torturous. Some people exited one of the cabins, throwing what appeared to be muffin wrappers in the trash can behind the cabin. They took off towards the lake, leaving those tempting smells in the waste bin. Timid Heart eyed the bin, his stomach demanding food.

Colette had told him to stay hidden, and as much as he wanted to obey her, his stomach had other plans. There didn't appear to be anyone else around. He couldn't take it anymore. He made a beeline for the trash can.

* * *

A couple of young boys; around 12 years old, wandered the woods behind the cabins.

"My father owns a modeling agency." One of the boys bragged. "We get to come here every spring and summer. See that cabin there? That's the one we rent every year. One of the best ones here."

"Big deal." The other boy shrugged. "See that cabin? That one has a hot tub and...a wolf?"

The other boy looked at him strangely. "A...what?"

"Look!" His companion pointed.

Both boys stared, intrigued, at what appeared to be a wolf with a coat as blue as the sky, digging through a garbage can.

Behind the boys, 2 dark ghostly shadows appeared, eyes aglow.

"Whoa!" The first boy gasped. "Should we tell someone?"

One of the shadows lurched forward, disappearing into the second boy. The boy's eyes glowed for a brief moment, then narrowed into a scowl.

"What, and ruin the fun we could have?" His voice suddenly sounded scratchy.

The other boy looked at him, confused. "Huh? Fun? What do you...?"

The second shadow torpedoed into the other boy, causing him to go through the same transformation as his friend. He suddenly felt like doing something...cruel.

"Oh, I get it..." He smirked. They exchanged knowing glances and quietly made their way to the very preoccupied wolf.

* * *

Timid Heart was far too distracted to hear the approaching boys. One snuck up behind him while the other disappeared around the side of the cabin, grabbing some rope used to dock the boats. A snapping twig made Timid Heart whip around. He locked eyes with the one boy, and he cowered in fear. He was about to run, but the boy pulled a muffin out of his pocket. Timid Heart eyed the pastry, licking his lips.  
"Hungry, big guy?" The boy asked with a conceded snicker. "I got something you might like..." He held the muffin out in all its tasty glory. Timid Heart licked his lips and cautiously stepped forward.

He spotted the other boy too late. In a flash, the rope flew over his ears and settled around his neck. Timid Heart pulled back; the rope grew tight. He tried to yelp, but the rope dug through his fur into his neck, disabling his ability to cry out. His heart beat wildly in his chest as they began dragging him into the woods. Timid Heart gasped and choked and pulled back with all his might. But that only made the rope tighter. Within moments, he was breathless, and unable to draw in fresh oxygen. He tried in vain to scream, but only succeeded in making a muffled gurgle as he was dragged into the shadows of the trees.

"What're...we gonna...do with him?" The boy doing the pulling asked between breaths.

The other boy sneered and ate the muffin he used to tempt the naïve young wolf.

"How 'bout a little...target practice?"

He and his companion chuckled maniacally, dragging their gasping victim out of sight of the resort.

* * *

True Heart lifted her head to the faint beeping of her GCS device. She reached for it and hit the button. A digital map appeared on the screen, and a blinking pixelated broken heart appeared, showing the location of the problem as well as some other pertinent information.

There seemed to be 2 boys near a resort in a 1,000 acre forest who had been influenced by No Heart's shadows. No other information was provided. True Heart sighed. She was the only one there. She'd have to take this mission.

"Oh dear." She moaned as she pocketed the GCS and headed towards a cloud car. She didn't feel as though she was in any condition to help anyone care. But she couldn't turn away from 2 kids that could get into trouble for being influenced by No Heart's shadows.

She hopped in and headed down to Earth, feeling very unsure.

* * *

Colette inconspicuously made her way back to the treeline, her pockets and arms full of muffins, fruit and other goodies.

"Hey, Timmy!" She called excitedly. "I hope your tummy is ready for some tasty treats!"

She looked around, but saw nothing. "Timmy! C'mon, I got your favorites!" Again, no answer. "Come on Timmy, I thought you were hungry!" She set the food down, keeping an apple and taking a big bite out of it. "If you don't come out I'm gonna have to eat all of this by my..." She noticed paw prints on the ground leading towards one of the cabins. "..self." She finished, setting the apple down and following the prints to the knocked over trash cans.

Her eyes bulged and she gasped at the sight of claws marks in the dirt, along with shoe prints, leading into the forest. Her heart pounded, but it felt to her like it stopped completely. "Timmy..." She whispered, the feeling of dread washing over her.

"TIMMY!" She screamed before she took off in the direction of the prints.

* * *

They tied him so close to the tree that he couldn't move. The rope was so tight around around his neck that he could hardly breath. Pain shot through his neck and back with every labored breath he tried to take.

CRACK

The sound of a large rock hitting the tree made him clench up with fear. That one missed him. But the next one didn't. A shock of pain shot through his hip and down his leg as the rock connected with his thigh. He he tried to cry out, but only succeeded in making his voice even more raw.

CRACK

Another rock hit the tree, causing some leaves to fall. He flinched again, terrified of when the next one would strike. CRACK. They hit the tree again, but it only made the wolf's heart pound in his chest, anticipating another hit but never knowing when it would come.

THWACK

There it was. Right on the side of his head. His eye and temple throbbed with pain. He tried to scream again, but to no avail. He attempted to make himself as small as possible, doing his best to protect his head and face. But every time he moved, the rope tightened. A barrage of rocks came; some hitting him; stinging his face and body. Other clacked against the tree, terrifying him. He huddled against the tree in a ball, bruised and frightened, as more rocks rained upon him. All sounds around him were drowned out by the pounding of his heart and the laughter of his tormentors.

* * *

True Heart landed the cloud car in some dense foliage, and started scouring the area. She checked the GCS again. Just about 100 yards ahead is where she would find the boys. Sure enough, there they were. The entire area where they stood and beyond was shrouded in shrubbery. She squinted her eyes. They were laughing as they threw some rocks at a tree. True Heart shook her head disapprovingly.

"That's not right." She said. "Trees have feelings too. I better go talk to them."

She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and started towards them.

"Excuse me..." She started but was completely overshadowed by a strong, angry, " **HEY!** "

The sharp command made True Heart freeze. From nowhere, a tall black-haired girl in a hoodie and cargo pants approached the boys, a scowl on her face and her hands balled up into fists.

"What the-who is that?" True Heart said to herself, confused.

She opened her mouth to ask, but then something happened that shocked her into a complete halt.

The girl jogged up to the boys and punched one of them dead in the face. He howled in pain as her fist collided with his jaw, blood sprayed into the air. He dropped to the ground, holding his face and moaning loudly.

True Heart stood, aghast at the scene before her, her paws covering her mouth, which hung open in astonishment. The girl wasn't done yet. She stood over the fallen boy and punched him in the face AGAIN. He dropped face-first onto the ground, and stayed there. The girl then turned to the other boy, grabbed him by the sides of his head and ripped it down, bringing her knee up to meet his nose.

More blood. True Heart could feel her stomach churning and knotting up at the mere sight of the red droplets staining the grass. The second boy huddled over, holding his bloody nose and crying. The girl lifted her leg high in the air and landed her foot on his ribcage. He, too, collapsed face first in the grass. Invisible to both the girl and True Heart, the shadows quickly left the boys' bodies and took off into the sky. Even they seemed terrified.

Standing over the 2 sobbing boys, the girl grabbed them by the back of their shirts, lifting them off the ground.

" **IF I EVER SEE YOU DOING THIS AGAIN, I PROMISE YOU'LL GET WORSE THAN THIS!** " She screamed at the top of her lungs.

The boys shakily nodded, tears streaming down their bloodied faces. Without another word, she dropped them. They scrambled to their feet and stumbled away, crying. The girl watched them go, her face stern and full of anger.

Once they were no longer in view, she turned and left, leaving True Heart standing, shaking violently at what she'd just witnessed. Her legs felt like rubber, as though they could give out at any second. Every strand of fur stood up. Her eyes were wide and moist, pupils shrunken into the white. Never before had any Care Bear been witness to such volatile behavior. Such violence.

"Such...such a horrible, horrible girl!" True Heart shouted, covering her face in a fruitless attempt at trying to forget what she just saw. "People like her are what make our job harder and harder!"

She turned towards the cloud car, stumbling but quickly catching herself. She forced herself to run to it and crawled inside. She couldn't hold it in anymore. Out of severe frustration, she wept violently into her palms, her sobbing muffled.

"Just...just take me home! Now!" She commanded.

The worried looking cloud car wasted no time in setting off towards the clouds to get the traumatized Care Bear home.

* * *

Colette rushed over to the cowering and bruised Timid Heart. Seeing him like that made her even more upset.

"Don't worry baby." She tried to sound confident but her trembling voice told otherwise. "I'll set you free."

The rope was very taunt and it was impossible to untie. She pulled out her pocket knife and cut through it quickly. The moment he felt it slack, Timid Heart wasted no time in exploding away at top speed.

"Timmy!" Colette called and took off after him.

After a few yards, she had lost sight of him. She called out for him again, her voice drenched with worry.

"Timmy, wait! Please come back! Timmy!"

Her voice sounded so distant to him. He wanted to stop and go back to her so bad. But the fear and trauma drove him further and further away. Instinct overpowered him this time. He sped through the forest, no idea where he was going. He didn't care. He just wanted to get as far away from that place—from that memory- as possible.

Unfortunately, Timid Heart didn't realize that, in separating from Colette, he was putting them both in great danger.


	5. Chapter 4

Care Bears III: The Search for Timid Heart

 **Chapter 4:**

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time True Heart returned to Care-a-Lot. She slid out of her cloud car and slowly made her way towards the Hall of Heart in a zombie-state. Flashes from the horrific event she'd witnessed earlier in the day replayed in her mind. The spray of blood. The cries of pain from the boys. The stone cold face of the brutish girl as she mercilessly and savagely attacked them.

The waves and greetings of her peers seemed distant as she passed them, not even offering them her gaze. She entered the Hall of Hearts and walked over to the map that hung in the central room. She stared at it for several moments before shakily reaching for a red peg. The map was decorated with green pegs, each indicating a successful mission. She looked broken heartidly at the 1,000 acre forest and with a slow blink, pressed the red peg into the map. The gasps of those around her was inaudible to her ears. A failed mission. Failed because one beastly young girl had to come and make things worse.

She was bombarded with questions from the others, but she barely heard them. Still in a state of shock, she simply pushed passed them and ascended the stairs, her mouth slightly agape.

The others who had witnessed her odd behavior; Cheer Bear, Good Luck Bear, Brave Heart Lion, Friend Bear, Secret Bear and Wish Bear, all watched in silence as True Heart disappeared up the stairs. Noble Heart Horse, also present, watched her go, worriedly scratching his head. He immediately felt the gaze of the others upon him. He reciprocated their concerned looks and nodded.

"Don't worry, everyone. I'll go see what happened." He said before quickly hopping up the stairs.

The others stayed behind, muttering theories among themselves.

Noble Heart reached the top of the stairs and turned, entering a private room. True Heart sat on a sofa, her paws on her lap, staring blankly. Noble Heart walked over and quietly sat beside her. He looked into her expressionless face.

"True Heart?" He started calmly. "What happened today? Why was your mission unsuccessful?"

She sat there in silence. But her trembling lip suggested something bad had happened.

"True Heart?" He tried again.

Without warning, True Heart burst into tears, shoving her face into her quivering paws.

"Oh Noble Heart it was awful!" She sobbed. "They weren't doing anything to deserve it! She just came out of nowhere and started beating them!"

Noble Heart sat there, shocked. "What? Who? I-I don't understand..." He put his arm around her in an attempt to console her. "Please, slow down..."

"There was so much...blood..." She gasped.

Noble Heart's eyes widened. "Blood!? What do you mean? Aw, True Heart..."

He decided the best thing to do was just stay with her until she calmed down. But he had never seen his companion so shaken before. So traumatized. So emotionally unable to receive his help. And that's when he realized...

True Heart had been struck with a case of Care Scare.

* * *

Now, just about every Care Bear and Care Bear Cousin stood around the bottom of the stair case, curious and worried.

Tender Heart, fresh from a successful mission, entered the Hall of Hearts and stared confused at the gathering.

"Hey, Wish Bear, what's going on?" He queried.

"It's terrible." She answered. "True Heart had an unsuccessful mission that seems to have really shook her up. She didn't tell anyone what happened though. But she seems really upset."

"Gosh." Tender Heart gushed. "I sure hope she's alright."

"Noble Heart is talking to her now." Wish Bear informed.

"That's good. If anyone can calm her down, it's Noble Heart."

"How did your mission go, Tender Heart?" She asked politely.

"It went fine." He nodded. "I'm gonna go mark the map now."

He walked over to the map and grabbed a green peg. He eyed the map for a moment, found the location of his mission, and pressed the peg into the map. His eyes then wandered down to True Heart's red peg. He lowered his brows suspiciously.

"Is...is this where True Heart had an unsuccessful mission?" He asked.

Wish Bear nodded. "That's right. In that thousand acre forest where she suspected Timid Heart Wolf landed when he got lost last year."

Tender Heart stared suspiciously at the location of the peg. "It can't be." He whispered to himself.

He wasted no time in scurrying out of the Hall of Hearts. He returned a few minutes later with his own map. He unrolled it and held it next to the main map. His eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh...it is!"

"It is what?" Grumpy inquired from behind, startling Tender Heart.

"Grumpy!" Tender Heart shouted irritably. "When did you get back?"

"Just now." Grumpy answered with a grunt. "What're you so excited about? And why is everyone gathered in here looking at the stairs? Did they forget how to go up?"

Tender Heart looked back over at the crowd before lowering his voice.

"Look at this Grumpy." He held up his own map next to the main one. "I tracked a burst of love this morning to this very location. And look here! True Heart just got back from a failed mission in the same area! Within a half mile of each other!"

"So what?" Grumpy scoffed. "What's that got to do with everyone staring up the stairs like they have no idea how to use them?"

"True Heart just returned from a failed mission in that exact location." He repeated. " And from what Wish Bear told me, it upset her very much. She won't even tell anyone what happened, she was so upset."

"If she's so upset why is no one trying to talk to her and make her feel better or at least try to find out what's going on?"

"Noble Heart is trying now, but Grumpy, listen!" Tender Heart lowered his voice even more. "It's the same forest Timid Heart supposedly disappeared into when he fell from the Kingdom of Caring last year. The same forest I've been tracking those bursts of love."

Grumpy narrowed his eyes as he began piecing the puzzle together.

"So...you're saying, you think Timid Heart is in that forest?" He pointed to the red peg. "In that spot?"

Tender Heart nodded slowly, raising just one eyebrow. Grumpy sighed.

"We're going to go look for him there, aren't we?"

"We're going right now." Tender Heart said, making his way towards the door, grabbing Grumpy's paw.

Grumpy groaned pathetically as Tender Heart led him away. "Ugh, I JUST got back! Can't we go tomorrow?"

"No, Grumpy. We can't."

"Well, why not?" He complained.

Tender Heart stopped and turned abruptly, staring hard into the blue bear's eyes.

"Because...I think Timid Heart needs our help. There's a reason why True Heart was so upset about her mission down in that forest. I think Timid Heart is in trouble."

Grumpy stared back for moment before nodding bravely.

"Well, why are we standing around here then? Let's go find our little cousin."

With that, the 2 slipped out of the Hall of Hearts and into a cloud roller.

Meanwhile, Wish Bear, Friend Bear and Secret Bear watched them suspiciously from the doorway, their ears perked curiously.

* * *

Back in No Heart's castle, the villains were putting the final touches on the Spirit's special spell. No Heart himself sprinkled the last ingredient into the cauldron. There was a blast of light that emanated from the stew, culminating in a vibrant rainbow before suddenly turning gray and disintegrating back into the boiling pot. The goulash of ingredients bubbled a sickening pale green color.

"That's it." No Heart boasted. "The final ingredient."

 _"Yes."_ The Spirit smirked. _"The spell is complete."_

Cold Heart looked into the cauldron and sneered. "And just what is this concoction supposed to do?"

 _"Well, I can explain it to you, Professor. Or I can demonstrate. All we need is..."_

"The wolf!" Shreeky cheered. "Finally, we can go get that little mutt! C'mon, Beastly!"

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Beastly clapped as he followed Shreeky to the door.

 _"Not you."_ The Spirit snapped, stopping the two in their tracks.

Shreeky crossed her arms and scowled. "Excuse me?"

The Spirit glared at the petulant young teen. _"Sending you would ruin all that we have worked for. You are destined to fail."_

Deeply offended, Shreeky balled up her fists and growled.

"Is this a job for me, Spirit?" No Heart stepped forward.

 _"It is not."_ She said simply.

The eyes in the room shifted to Cold Heart, who threw up his hands in protest. "Well don't look at me! I'm not traipsing around that forest!"

 _"No Professor."_ The Spirit said. _"This mission is for someone stronger. One who is destined to succeed. There is only one choice."_

Instantly, all eyes were on the bottle on the shelf. The glowing eyes of Dark Heart's essence narrowed, but not in anger. Though the cloud of evil had no mouth, he seemed to be smiling.

"Him?!" No Heart chuckled. "How can a bottle of impotent rage capture the wolf?"

Dark Heart's eyes immediately fell into a scowl.

 _"I will be returning his powers, of course."_ The Spirit stated matter-of-factly.

No Heart's amusement faded into concern. He approached the book and leaned over, whispering.

"With all due respect, great Spirit, I do not think that is entirely wise. You see, Dark Heart can not be trusted. If you give him his powers, you must be aware that he will leave and not come back. Surely you have foreseen this."

The Spirit thought for a moment. _"A persuasive argument indeed. But it has been foreseen that he_ _will_ _bring us what we need. No one else can do this. What then, No Heart, do you recommend?"_

A hush fell over the room as the 2 whispered among themselves. Shreeky, Beastly and Cold Heart listened intently, straining to hear the conversation. Even Dark Heart seemed to be pressed against the bottle with extreme interest.

Finally, a decision had been made. No Heart stepped away from the book and gave a single nod. The Spirit flipped through her pages, reciting an incantation. The bottle began to shake and finally was lifted into the air. It hovered across the room to the book and began to spin. The incantation flowed from the Spirit at a faster pace, causing the bottle to spin faster and glow a deep red color. As she continued, No Heart removed the powerful amulet from around his neck and, after a moment of what seemed to be reluctance, he tossed it at the spinning, glowing bottle. In a flash of red and a burst of smoke, the bottle cracked and shattered.

The others struggled to see through the thick miasma. As it slowly cleared, a figure became visible. Tall, lean and clothed in red and black pants and jacket, a ginger-headed young man appeared before them. Dark Heart's new form seemed relatively similar to his previous one, only several year older; evident by the small patch of ginger that sprouted from his chin.

Dark Heart stood, eyes closed and grinning, embracing the simple pleasure of having a new body.

He took a deep lung full of air as he stretch his arms to the sky, and exhaled in a relaxing sigh.

"Ahh...does it feel good to be free once more!" He groaned in ecstasy.

The Spirit gave him a quick side-eyed glare of envy before forcing a grin; her face even paler than before. _"Yes. Enjoy it while you can. For you never know when someone will take that freedom away from you."_

"Oh, I'm not worried about _that_." Dark Heart boasted. "Once I retrieve the wolf for you, I shall revel in the joy of my _true_ freedom. For now, let's test out my powers..."

"Not so fast, you." No Heart growled, gripping Dark Heart's shoulder and digging in his claws. "Your current powers are limited to a single transformation. Into a flying creature. To be used ONLY once you've captured the wolf. My amulet will provide you with that one transformation."

"What!?" Dark Heart roared. He glanced down, seeing the amulet embedded in his chest.

"You heard me, you little worm." No Heart tugged at him, digging his claws even deeper into his shoulder. "No fighting, no fooling around. I don't trust letting you go with that much power. You bring back the wolf, you get the rest of your abilities. You fail, it's back to the bottle with you! Understand?"

Dark Heart glared furiously at his father. "Very well." He hissed begrudgingly.

"Humph! I still don't trust him, Uncle No Heart! Who's to say he won't run off with your amulet once he gets to earth?" Shreeky accused.

Dark Heart shot her a spiteful glare as well. "I always hated you." He grumbled at his cousin maliciously.

"You're right, Shreeky. He can't be trusted with any power, even a small amount." No Heart agreed. "Spirit, would sending a chaperon along still result in success?"

"A chaperon?" Dark Heart choked in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?!"

The Spirit raised a brow and grinned. _"I suppose it wouldn't hurt."_

Shreeky smiled and giggled, cracking her knuckles confidently.

 _"You there."_ The Spirit gestured. _"Hideous pig creature. You will accompany him."_

Shreeky gasped in shock, slowly looking down at the equally stunned Beastly, whose jaw hung open.

"M-m-m-me?" He stammered nervously.

"HIM?!" Shreeky squealed in a rage.

Dark Heart rolled his eyes. "Oh for crying out loud!"

"Enough!" No Heart shouted. "You've wasted enough time already. Begone, both of you! You have one job. Don't mess it up." With a wave of his hand, Dark Heart and Beastly slowly started to disappear.

Dark Heart looked over at the book as he slowly dissipated. She caught his gaze and narrowed her eyes.

 _"Don't you dare return empty-handed."_ She warned just before Dark Heart and Beastly disappeared.

* * *

In the thousand acre forest below, Dark Heart and Beastly appeared among the foliage. Once fully integrated, Dark Heart started forward, eyeing his surroundings. Beastly followed meekly, uncertain of his new partner. They entered a clearing and found themselves on the shore of a modest lake. Dark Heart scoured across it, eyes widening when he spotted something.

"So...um...where do we find the wolf..." Beastly started, only to be yanked by his tie into some bushes by Dark Heart.

"Quiet!" He demanded. "Or she'll see us!"

Beastly glanced across the lake. Sure enough, there was a girl on the other side, sitting on a rock. She looked sad.

"Who is that?" Beastly asked.

"Idiot. Don't you recognize her? That's the wolf's caretaker. Anytime we'd watch the wolf through Cold Heart's mirror, she was with it."

"Well, if she's here...then where's the wolf?" Beastly asked again, a touch of worry in his voice.

Dark Heart narrowed his eyes. "That's exactly what we're going to find out." He tightened his grip on Beastly's tie and pulled him closer. "Listen carefully..."

He leaned over and began whispering in Beastly's ear.

* * *

Colette sat on the boulder, her sad eyes locked on her reflection in the rippling water. She'd been searching for Timid Heart for hours with no luck. She sighed, wiping a tear from her large black eyes, and brushing some stray black hairs away from her face.

"Beastly!"

She immediately jumped to her feet at the sound of the strange voice. She looked around and spotted a tall red haired boy coming from around the other side of the lake, walking towards her. She quickly picked up a large stick.

"Beastly? Here boy! C'mon!" The boy continued to call, seemingly unaware of the girl he was fast approaching. His eyes suddenly met her suspicious gaze. "Oh...hello there." He greeted in a friendly manner.

He was instantly met with her untrusting glare, followed by the stick. She thrust it at him, stopping just inches from his face. He gasped and stopped in his tracks, holding his hands up innocently.

"Whoa...okay." He nervously coughed out, finishing with an uncertain grin. Clearly she wasn't friendly.

"Who are you?" She demanded fiercely, holding the stick to his face.

It took Dark Heart a moment to regain his composure.

"It's okay! I don't want any trouble! I'm from the camp on the other side of the mountain." He spat out quickly.

Colette's gaze hardened as she thrust the stick even closer.

"I didn't ask where you were from." She growled. "I asked who you were."

Dark Heart grinned slightly. This one seemed more suspicious and more clever than Christy did.

"Forgive me. My name is Da...erm...Dirk. Dirk Hart. I'm camping with my family. It's nice to meet you...Miss?" He shakily held his hand out, still eyeing the stick that threatened to pop him in the nose at any second.

But Colette gradually lowered the weapon, her gaze softening slightly. "Oh...umm, I'm Colette." She suspiciously reached for his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Sorry for almost attacking you. I kinda had a rough morning."

Dark Heart let go a sigh of relief, happy that the stick was no longer a threat. "Understandable." He chuckled nervously. "Anyway, I'm sorry to bother you. I was just looking for my dog, Beastly. Have you seen him?"

Colette set the stick down, curiously eying the stranger. "Your dog?"

"Yes." He cleared his voice, removing all traces of nervousness. "We were walking in the woods, you see. And I guess he saw something and took off after it. I've been trying to find him ever since."

Colette lowered her gaze, feeling a touch of guilt for almost attacking someone who seemed to just be looking for his lost pet. She looked back at the stranger, her voice softer.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen any dogs all morning. What does he look like?"

Dark Heart smiled confidently. "Oh, he's just a little brown mutt. Ugliest thing you'd ever see, really!" He laughed.

From the some bushes not too far away, Beastly peeked out, a scowl on his face at the insult.

Colette managed a small smile herself. "Sorry. I've spent the morning looking for my wo...um, dog, as well. He ran off a couple hours ago."

Dark Heart narrowed his eyes into a smug grin. "Well now...maybe we should look for our dogs together. Who knows...they might be off in a field somewhere playing with each other. Whatdoya say?"

Colette smiled coyly and nodded. "Yeah. Alright. Let's do that." She started towards the forest, feeling a bit more confident that she may find her precious Timmy with this boy's help.

Dark Heart followed, his lips curled into his signature evil smirk. "Wonderful."

* * *

About a mile away, Timid Heart was at the edge of a field, curled in a ball. His eyes half closed, he lay recovering from his horrific morning, breathing into his tail and watching, hypnotized, as the fur swayed to and from with every breath. In his trance-like state, he didn't even hear the whirring noises coming from above.

* * *

Tender Heart and Grumpy landed their cloud car in a field of wild grass. They got out and looked over their surroundings. Grumpy lifted his head at the sound of more whirring. He tapped Tender Heart's shoulder.

"Looks like we have company." He gestured upward.

Tender Heart looked up to see 2 more cloud cars. They landed next to theirs and Wish Bear, Friend Bear and Secret Bear got out to join them.

"What're you guys doing here?" Tender Heart asked, a touch of worry in his voice.

"We should be asking you the same thing." Wish Bear said, arms crossed.

"Secret Bear said he overheard you two talking about Timid Heart Wolf." Friend Bear informed. Secret Bear nodded in agreement. "He said that you 2 found him. Is it true?"

Tender Heart sighed. "We didn't find him, but I suspect he may be somewhere around here."

"But how do you know?" Wish Bear insisted.

"I don't know for sure if he is or not, but I suspect it. I'll explain later. Right now, we're just looking. Since you're here, you can help." Tender Heart finished, slightly annoyed, but remaining hopeful.

So the Bears separated and went to work scouring the area. Wish Bear and Grumpy searched through the tall grass in the middle of the field. Secret Bear and Friend Bear peeked behind the rocks and shrubs. They looked around a suspicious looking indentation in the center of the field where new plant life was coming through. They scratched their heads, wondering what could have made such a large impact in the ground and why the plants there seemed younger than the plants in the rest of the field.

Tender Heart began searching the edges of the field, peering into the woods as he went along. He felt something brush his foot. He looked down and noticed a cluster of long, deep blue fur snagged in the grass. He picked it up and studied it. It was coarse and each hair was tipped with black.

Could it be...wolf fur?

He walked forward a bit more, and found another cluster. He collected it, and every other bunch of fur he found until his paw was full of the black-tipped blue bundles. Crawling on his knees now, he looked ahead and in the bushes just in front of him, he saw a large cluster of blue fur tipped with black. He crawled over to it, grabbed it and gave a quick pull to loosen it from the tangle of bushes.

There was a sharp yelp as the fresh bundle was ripped from his grasping paw. The creature it belonged to whipped around to face the intruder. Tender Heart gasped, his body frozen and his eyes bulging.

He sat, breathless, staring into the big, yellow, confused eyes of Timid Heart Wolf.


	6. Chapter 5

Care Bears III: The Search for Timid Heart

 **Chapter 5:**

* * *

They stared at one another, fascinated. Timid Heart seemed frozen in place, not even able to blink. The sable colored bear curled the corner of his lips into an excited grin, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Guys..." He whispered so low his words were barely audible. "Guys..." He tried again, a little louder.

The other four approached, not seeing what Tender Heart was seeing. He turned slowly, struggling to tear his eyes off the now suspicious wolf.

"What is it, Tender Heart?" Wish Bear inquired, instantly silenced by Tender Heart slowly bringing his finger to his lips with a shush.

The 4 of them approached slower, reacting to Tender Heart's odd behavior. That's when they spotted the big blue wolf, and instantly stopped in their tracks, eyes wide with wonder and excitement. Timid Heart, more nervous now, backed up a few steps, eying the colorful bears that surrounded him...that looked like him.

"Oh my goodness..." Friend Bear gasped, covering her mouth with her paws.

"He's so handsome." Wish Bear gushed.

"Gosh." Grumpy whispered to himself. "He's awfully big."

Secret Bear leaned over and whispered in Friend Bear's ear. Friend Bear nodded. "That's right, Secret Bear. Timid Heart grew up very fast!"

Timid Heart pricked up his ears at the sound of his name. His name that he'd forgotten.

"W-What...did you call me?" He finally stammered out.

The bears were almost taken aback by the wolf's query. They exchanged looks. Tender Heart was the one to answer.

"Don't be afraid of us." He said calmly. "Your name is Timid Heart. We're your family."

The wolf took another step back, shocked. "My...family?" He said, unbelieving.

The bears all smiled, feeling the excitement of the moment. They had finally found their long lost cousin.

Tender Heart took a couple steps toward the wolf and extended his paw. "If you come with us..."

In a split second, the wolf turned and bolted, spooking the bears and causing Tender Heart to tumble back and fall on his rump. The whirlwind of excitement brought the bears out of their stupor, and they quickly realized the wolf was suddenly 100 feet away, staring at them.

"Wait! Timid Heart!" Tender Heart called anxiously.

The bears quickly ran towards their cousin, who turned and sprinted further away.

"Come on, guys! We can't lose him again!" Tender Heart ordered.

The bears all took off after the wolf, who kept a good 100-200 foot lead ahead, but stopped long enough to not let the bears lose sight of him. Unbeknownst to the frantic bears, the wolf was leading them deeper into the forest.

* * *

Colette walked with Dark Heart down a deer trail. Aside from them occasionally calling their "dogs", they walked in silence. Dark Heart looked over at Colette, her face full of worry. At least it was a nice face. He wouldn't have minded being in her company, enjoying her face, were he not pressed for time. He had to ask some questions in hopes of getting a clue about where the wolf may possibly be.

He called Beastly's name again, then walked over to a fallen log and sat down. Not saying a word, Colette walked over to a tree near the log and leaned against it, her large dark eyes looking at the ground.

"They could be anywhere you know." She said solemnly.

"I'm sure they'll turn up." Dark Heart said optimistically. "We were walking in the forest and Beastly took off after a deer. Once he realizes he lost me, he'll come looking for me. I'm not too worried." He looked at her with a raised brow. "What happened with your dog?"

She sighed and looked away. "I wish it was as simple as what happened to yours. But I don't think mine will be so quick to come back."

"How come?" He pressed. "Did something scare him off?"

She hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Something like that."

The heat of the day hit the depths of the forest, forcing her to remove her hoodie and tie it around her waist. She wore a black tank top. Dark Heart scooted closer.

"C'mon. Tell me what happened." He insisted impatiently, feeling she may have information that would be useful.

She hesitated again, as though the thought of it pained her.

"I left him for a few minutes. Just a few. I went to get us some food."

To Dark Heart's surprise, she took a seat next to him on the log before continuing.

"He was gone. I looked around and saw claw marks in the dirt. Like he had been dragged away."

Dark Heart narrowed his eyes, intrigued.

"I followed the marks to some trees by the lake. And that's when I saw him..." She paused and sighed before continuing. "He was tied to a tree on a short tight rope. There were a couple of boys there. They were throwing rocks at him."

Dark Heart gasped slightly and leaned back. That sounded cruel even by his standards. "That...that's awful." He caught himself saying. He was happy his father wasn't there to hear it.

"And you know, the weird thing is, I know those boys. They're usually pretty nice. It was so out of character to do that. Almost like...they were possessed or something."

Dark Heart's eyes went wide. "Possessed?" He immediately recalled seeing the Spirit that morning instructing 2 of No Heart's shadows to go on a mysterious mission. Was it them who caused the boys to engage is such a cruel act? Did the Spirit intentionally do this? Why?

"What did you do?" He managed to ask.

She leaned back on her hands, looking up at the trees. "I just wanted to cry. But instead, I felt this...anger. Deep inside me. This...rage. I can't explain it. But it made me want to...hurt them."

Dark Heart listened with great interest.

"I remember running towards them. Then...I punched them in the face...kicked them. Afterward, it was like they went back to normal. They ran off, so I went and untied my..."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Dark Heart stopped her right there, struggling to hold in a laugh. "You punched them in the face and kicked them?"

Colette shrugged. "Well, yeah. They were hurting my baby. I mean...what would you do?" She looked at him curiously.

He did like her big, black eyes. And her face. And the fact that she pummeled those boys. He smirked a little.

"I'd probably do exactly what you did." He said. "It actually sounds pretty brave."

She smiled back a little before looking away. "Well...I don't know about that. I just know I'd do anything to protect him. And to tell the truth, I felt bad for beating those boys up. I wish I would have done things differently." She brushed some hair behind her ear. "After they ran off, I untied Timmy—my dog—but he was so scared, he ran away. He must have been terrified." She folded her arms tightly against her chest. "I've been looking for him ever since." Her voice sounded sad and distant.

Without thinking, she leaned against Dark Heart. His eyes bulged, and his heart—dark as it was—pounded violently in his chest. The heat of the day had nothing on the heat pulsating from his every skin cell.

Almost as though she could feel the air around them grew warmer, Colette quickly pulled away and stood up. "We've rested long enough, let's start searching again." Her sentence was rushed.

"Yeah." He squeaked, his voice cracking nervously. He cleared his throat. "I agree. Let's go."

He cupped his hands over his mouth and called Beastly's name. Colette mimicked his actions and called Timid Heart.

"Timmy!"

The snapping of twigs and rustling of leaves caught the attention of both teenagers. They whipped around and Colette's face brightened when the blue wolf came into view.

"Timmy!" She called excitedly and started towards the wolf.

Quickly regaining his composure and remembering his mission, Dark Heart eyed the wolf and prepared to make his move. The amulet in his chest began to glow.

Then, 5 colored bears came into view, not far behind the wolf. Dark Heart gasped and quickly ceased using his power, the amulet's glow dying. He growled, annoyed at the inconvenience. With Colette obviously preoccupied, Dark Heart quietly backed into the shadows of the bushes.

Colette only noticed her beloved wolf, and ran towards him with open arms. Timid Heart leapt into them, cuddling against her chest and neck.

"Oh Timmy, I was so worried about you! Are you okay?" Colette almost cried into his fur.

"I'm okay mommy. I brought them with me!"

Colette felt a sense of dread. "What? Who? Who's following you?"

She looked up in time to see 5 brightly colored things fast approaching. She gasped, startled, and pushed Timid Heart behind her protectively. She armed herself with a rock and shielded her precious wolf with her body, holding the rock up defensively.

Tender Heart spotted the threat and quickly slid to a stop, the other 4 bumping into him. Colette's eyes went wide. These things were BEARS.

She shrieked, dropping the rock and falling back against Timid Heart, scooting away as far as possible without crushing Timid Heart against a tree.

Tender Heart held up his paws. "It's okay! Don't be scared! My name's Tender Heart. This is Wish Bear, Friend Bear, Secret Bear and Grumpy Bear." He pointed to each as he introduced them. "We're the Care Bears!"

Dark Heart rolled his eyes from the bushes.

Colette sat there, still frozen, her eyebrows lowering suspiciously. Clearly she had no idea what they were talking about. Tender Heart picked up on this.

"You...you've never heard of us?" He asked, feeling silly.

Colette looked away, as though she were trying to recall, then looked back at the bears, slowly shaking her head while mouthing the word "No". Her facial expression almost said, 'should I'?

Grumpy sneered and crossed his arms. "Well this is awkward."

Suddenly, her fear and confusion melted away as Colette stared at the strangers, getting a good look at them. Her face transformed into an expression of curiosity.

"Hey..." She gasped. "You...you kinda look like Timmy."

Upon hearing his name, Timid Heart poked his head out from under her arm, smiling.

"They say they're my family, mommy." He said excitedly. "Isn't that neat?"

Colette slowly smiled. "It is. Wow..." She got her legs underneath her and sat up, resting on her knees. She looked closely at the bears, no longer suspicious. "Look at you. Where'd you all come from?"

No longer feeling threatened by the girl, the bears stepped closer. There was an air of friendliness now.

"We're from a place in the clouds called Care-a-Lot." Wish Bear said, pointing up.

Colette looked up, remembering the first time she'd seen Timid Heart. He too had pointed up when she asked where he was from. The bears were definitely telling the truth.

Colette looked back at the bears, smiling softly. "My name is Colette. I found Timmy when he was a puppy. I raised him."

Tender Heart reached out and took Colette's hand. "We can't thank you enough for taking care of him, Colette. We'd been looking everywhere for him. We've been very worried. We'd like to take him home now."

Colette's smile slowly faded. "Take him?"

Friend Bear stepped forward. "You see, it's our job to help the people in the world care and to share their feelings. Each of us has a very important mission. His mission is perhaps the most important of all. We need him. The world needs him. And we need to take him home so we can train him."

Wish Bear looked past Colette at the wolf.

"Timid Heart, you have to come with us. Please."

Colette looked over at her baby. She wore a sad smile. "Timid Heart." She whispered. He responded by looking at her, worried. She stroked his head. "That's your real name. Do you remember?"

Timid Heart nodded. "A little."

She grabbed Timid Heart, pulling him into her lap. She hugged him close. A massive burst of love pulsated from them, knocking the bears off their feet.

Dark Heart suppressed a moan of pain from the bushes.

Tender Heart sat up, a huge smile on his face. "Whoa, so that's where those were coming from!"

Colette and Timid Heart didn't pay attention to him. They simply looked at each other, eyes full of sadness.

"You have to go with them Timmy." She said, choking back the tears.

Timid Heart shook his head. "But I wanna be with you."

"Don't worry, Timid Heart." Tender Heart reassured. "We could always bring her to Care-a-Lot to visit you. We'd never try to keep you two apart. After all, we owe Colette a lot for saving you."

Colette smiled, feeling relieved. "See, Timmy? I'll come visit you."

"Come with me now!" Timid Heart insisted.

"Tell you what. You go with them now and learn more about your family. If you're good and do what they tell you, I'll come up for a visit. How's that sound?"

The wolf considered the conditions for a moment, then finally agreed. "Okay mommy. I'll go!"

"No!" Dark Heart snarled from his hiding place.

The bears were thrilled. "Hooray!" They all shouted, drowning out Dark Heart's disapproving growl.

"Oh boy, we can't wait to introduce you to everyone-..." Tender Heart finished with a loud grunt as he was instantly knocked on his back by Timid Heart, who stood on top of him, his full weight on his stomach.

"Yay, I get to meet my pack!" The wolf cheered , leaping off Tender Heart and proceeding to jump on and knock down all the other bears. Each went down with a loud "oof!" under the wolf's weight.

Colette giggled, pleased to see Timid Heart so happy after such a traumatic morning, and thrilled that he would get to meet his real family.

"How we gonna get to Care-a-Lot?" Timid Heart inquired, standing on Grumpy's chest.

"If you get off me..." Grumpy groaned. "...I'll show you."

The wolf gently backed off the blue bear, who got to his feet, took a deep breath and thrust out his stomach. His tummy symbol glowed and from it, a car-shaped cloud appeared. Timid Heart bolted and hid behind Colette at the glow. Colette managed an impressed "whoa!"

Timid Heart fearfully peeked from behind Colette's legs, shaking. The light took him way back to when he was a pup, almost falling to his death. A phantom pain came from his own tummy, almost like burning. The other bears parroted Grumpy's action. Timid Heart hid his face at the glowing, shivering fearfully. He didn't like this at all.

"Timmy...they're ready to go." Colette's voice reached his ears. "Timmy? Are you okay?"

He looked up, uncertainty on his face. "I'm scared." He whimpered.

Colette knelt down and rubbed his ears. He loved that.

"Don't be scared, baby. They'll take care of you. You'll be fine." Clearly she didn't catch on to what scared him exactly.

With a big sigh, Timid Heart hugged Colette's leg one more time, then cautiously approached one of the cloud cars. He sniffed them, occasionally shying away in a skittish manner as each of the cars floated into the sky. He looked at the last car, Wish Bear at the wheel.

"Come on, Timid Heart, you can ride with me." She smiled, motioning the wolf to enter.

He finally worked up the nerve to crawl into the vehicle. He almost jumped out when it started to ascend.

"Sit down please." Wish Bear smiled.

Timid Heart settled into his seat, his heart beating a million miles a minute. He kept his eyes locked on Colette as the car got higher and higher; his mommy getting smaller and smaller.

* * *

In the bushes, Beastly caught up with Dark Heart. He nudged him.

"What are you waiting for? The wolf is getting away!"

He was met with the back of Dark Heart's hand. "I can see that! What am I supposed to do?!" He angry-whispered. "I don't have enough power to fight, remember?"

Beastly rubbed his face where Dark Heart had smacked him, and looked up worriedly at the disappearing cloud car.

"Well...what are you going to do? The Spirit said we had to come back with the wolf!"

"The Spirit said to NOT come back empty handed!" Dark Heart snapped irritably. He watched as the cloud car disappeared into the sky. He then brought his gaze to Colette. He narrowed his eyes. "...And we won't have to."

Colette looked up at the sky for a while even after the car drove off into the clouds. She sighed, feeling a little sad but it was overshadowed by relief. Timid Heart would be with his real family now. And that's what mattered. With a smile, she turned to walk away.

She stopped short before running into Dark Heart, who appeared out of nowhere. She gasped audibly, but her startle quickly turned to suspicion. She took a step back.

"Wha-...where did you go?"

Dark Heart looked down at her, nothing about his face seemed friendly anymore.

"Oh...I, uh...found my _dog_." He said almost angrily.

"You did?" She asked, slightly hopeful but retaining her suspicion.

"Yes." He gestured to the ground behind her. "Meet Beastly."

Colette turned and looked down, her eyes locked on a horrible brown creature.

"Hello, little girl!" Beastly hissed, ending with a laugh. "We couldn't get your wolf, so we'll take you inst..."

Colette let out a scream at the ugly creature, her face full of terror.

" **AAAAHHH! PIG-MONKEY MAN!** " She wailed before kicking Beastly and sending him flying into the shrubbery.

Colette tried to run but was caught by the arm by Dark Heart.

"On no you don't!" Dark Heart roared, pulling her back. "You're coming with us!"

Colette glared at him, gritting her teeth. "Why you lying dirt bag! You were only using me to get to Timmy!" She hissed, trying to pull away.

"And you went and let him go with those bears!" He yelled back, tightening his grip. "Dumb move. Now I'm just gonna have to settle for you."

"Let me go!" She ordered, trying to break free.

He held on, digging his fingers into her arm. "We can do this the easy way or the hard w..."

His sentence was cut off when she hammered her fist into his gut. His grasp loosened. With great speed, she whirled her leg up and over his arm, put her weight on his arm and proceeded kicking him in the side with that leg repeatedly until he let go. She jumped back a few feet, then spun and kicked him again, knocking him to the ground. Then she ran.

Dark Heart got to his knees, holding his side with one arm while supporting his weight with the other. The look on his face was one of pure shock. He was definitely not expecting that. Beastly crawled out of the shrubs and rested near him.

"Dark Heart...I don't think she's going to do this the easy way." Beastly stated.

Dark Heart was enraged. He glared at Beastly. " **YA THINK?!** " He exploded, causing Beastly to cower.

Dark Heart looked in the direction Colette ran. His eyes started to glow red, matching the amulet in his chest. " _ **So let's do this the hard way.**_ " His voice rumbled.

His whole body glowed now as he began to transform. Beastly shrank back fearfully.

Colette, breathless, ate up the ground beneath her with every stride, trying with everything she had to put as much distance between herself, that creature and the almost supernatural boy as possible. Something about him just didn't seem...human. She knew she had to get somewhere safe. She jumped over logs and dodged trees, finally making it into a clearing where she could really up the speed.

But she wasn't expecting what came next.

There was deep pounding sound from above, and in an instant, she was shrouded in a massive shadow. She dropped to her knees and covered her head as a massive wind blasted over her. The shadow passed and she looked up. Her eyes bulged and she screamed. A horrific beast flew over her, turned mid air and let loose an ear piercing otherworldly shrieking roar.

A gigantic red and black griffin, its form blocking the sun, hovered in the sky above. It shrieked again and lunged downward, extending its massive talons. Colette got up and ran back towards the cover of the trees, hoping she could lose it. But she wasn't fast enough. The talons wrapped around her arms and lifted her high into the sky.

Colette howled again in fear, looking down at the ground as it got further away. She looked up at the beast carrying her, a massive glowing talisman embedded in its chest. From on its back, the ugly little pig looking beast looked down at her, chuckling.

"Shoulda picked the easy way!" He laughed wickedly.

Colette dangled, terrified and confused, from the sharp claws of the fantastical creature as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. She looked ahead. It seemed to be flying right towards a cluster of black storm clouds. She kicked and squirmed, feeling a sense of dread at what must have awaited her in that terrible kingdom of thunder and lightning.


End file.
